If you told Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata he’d be one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in the NFL 10 years ago, he wouldn’t want to believe you. He was an up-and-coming rugby player in Australia who never played a snap of football. And back then, he didn’t really want to try football either.

Mailata’s unique journey to the NFL started in Bankstown, Australia. He was a rugby player for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ under-18 team in 2015, but before he could play his first regular season game, he fainted during practice. This led doctors to discover that Mailata suffered from a rare heart condition that required immediate surgery.

After a year of playing rugby to recover, he gained 50 lbs. Standing 6’8″ and weighing 365 lbs, the Eagles OL was one of the heaviest players in the league. With his history of health problems and teams doubting his fitness, no team took a chance on him. But as the saying goes, “When one door closes, another one opens,” and that’s exactly what happened to Mailata, he just didn’t know it yet.

When Mailata’s agent recommended he give the NFL a try through their International Player Pathway Program (IPPP), his parents initially rejected it. He’d be away from his family for at least three months, and according to Samoan tradition, children are not supposed to leave the house until they are married.

After an hour of playing ping pong with his dad on a random night, he finally got his parent’s blessing: “If you really want to do this, then do it. Do it for yourself, don’t do it for anyone else.”

Mailata has come a long way from a guy who once splashed Gatorade all over his face because he didn’t know how to take off his helmet. Despite getting picked in the 7th round, the Eagles traded 17 spots up on day 3 of the 2018 NFL draft to pick him, even though he never played a snap of American football in his life. But in one of his workouts at the IMG academy, Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland knew he had the potential from day one.

After a slew of injuries to the Eagles’ offensive line in 2020, Mailata played in 15 games while starting in 10 of them and never looked back. A year later, he signed a four-year, $64 million contract extension and is one of the best left tackles in the NFL.