As owners of the 233rd pick in the NFL’s 256-pick draft, the Philadelphia Eagles had every reason to get weird. So, they decided to draft Australian offensive tackle Jordan Mailata with the final pick they owned, which, you see, is weird precisely because Mailata has never played a snap at offensive tackle at all. In fact, he has never even played football!
No, Mailata is, instead, a 6’8, 346-pound rugby star. Technically speaking, he has no experience in the game of football. What he does bring to the table, however, is tremendous proficiency in creaming dudes:
According to Mailata’s scouting report on the NFL.com draft hub, the 20 year old’s strengths include “good musculation and thickness in lower body” and a “violent punch in stiff-arm that could translate as pass-punch in pros.” Basically, he’s a big boy.
Interestingly, Mailata played on offense in rugby, and will now appear to convert to a blocking role on the offensive line. His combine numbers were impressive for someone of his size, and even in his rugby tape, one could see that the guy had real speed. It might be even more fun to turn him into a edge rusher or something, and have him just hound dudes on the field. Imagine that!
One way or another, there’s going to be a lengthy skill development process to kick off Mailata’s NFL career, so it’ll take some time to see how things will unfold for him. You can’t teach the quality of being a 6’8, 346-pound bulldozer, though, so he grades out well in the mountain man department.
