Jordan Mailata – a rugby player selected for the NFL Draft!

Three days, 7 laps, 256 picks. If the NFL Draft is generally only exciting on the first day, it sometimes has certain surprises in store, stories that make us want to follow the future season a little more. Like Jordan Mailata’s …

While the best story of this 2018 Draft will undoubtedly remain the selection of Shaquem griffin, left hand amputee, who will therefore join his twin brother Shaquill in Seattle, another more or less unexpected candidate will be part of the NFL next season. In 233^th position, the Philadelphia Eagles have selected Jordan Mailata, coming from South Sidney Rabbitohs. If indeed, the name of the previous team of Mailata does not recall anything of an NCAA team, it is because the new Eagle has never played a top football game before.

The Australian colossus of Samoan origin (2.07m, 156kg) impressed the scouts of the league teams during the last NFL Combine last March. He told Andy Fenelon of the NFL « don’t expect to be drafted. » After being spotted by Boy Scouts through YouTube videos, he was in this interview completely honest about the type of player he is:

“In rugby, size works to my advantage, but I’ve never started a match. I have always been a impact player. I would come home before half-time, play a little before half-time, go out and come home ten minutes from the end of the match. In what is now a new sport for him, the stopped phases of the NFL will certainly allow him to be this impact player.

Mailata had already visited the defending champions in Philadelphia last month, and had been marked by the reception of people at the airport and the attention of the coaches towards him. However, it is difficult to predict whether Jordan Mailata will succeed in establishing itself in the Eagles, but it is certain that his atypical profile and his enthusiastic personality make him a player to watch closely.