Jordan Mailata NFL contract: How a boy from Bankstown became Australia’s $108m man
He exploded into the headlines after signing an NFL megadeal, but Australia’s newest global sporting hero has emerged from humble roots.
NFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
As a boy, Jordan Mailata lived just off the busy main road of Stacey Street in Bankstown.
Opposite the family home was a 7-Eleven.
On Wednesday afternoons after footy training, Mailata would sling his size-17 boots over his shoulder and take the 10-minute walk home from Ruse Park – the home ground of his junior rugby league club the Bankstown Bulls.
Watch Live NFL every MON, TUE & FRI Australian-Time with ESPN on Kayo. 6 live games every week + every game of the Post-Season. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
Jingling in his pocket as he walked was always $1 worth of loose change.
“That was what he loved, he’d grab a slurpee and head home,’’ his former junior league coach Lawrence Karam said.
Mailata can buy more than a slurpee – he can buy the 7-Eleven store if he wants to.
Right now, the boy from Bankstown is the best story in Australian sport.
“I think it is a movie. I’m just waiting for somebody to say cut and the lights come down,” the 24-year-old told reporters earlier this week.
In the US, they are pining over the “Aussie Giant” who, in the under-10s junior rugby league, would run over his opposition before turning around to pick them up.
Standing at 6 foot 8 (205cm) and weighing 156kg, Mailata has a massive 35.5-inch wingspan and can run 36.5 metres (40 yards) in 5.12 seconds.
His physical presence in the offensive line has been described as the equivalent of a “freight train” while ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter tweeted to his 8.5 million followers last Sunday that Mailata had ’freakish athletic ability and upside.’’
Jordan Mailata never had worn a football helmet until three years ago and he has started only 10 games, but he’s 6’8â€, 380 pounds, with freakish athletic ability and upside. https://t.co/Qrtei0P0vU
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 11, 2021
The upside comes from the fact Mailata only pulled on an American Football helmet for the first time three years ago, arriving in the US from the South Sydney Rabbitohs under-20s squad.
Mailata was on a contract worth less than $10,000 at Souths when he literally became too big for the aerobic requirements of rugby league.
“I used to hold the tackle pad at training and he wouldn’t even be running and he’d bowl me over like I was nothing,’’ former Rabbitohs teammate and now Wests Tigers half Adam Doueihi said.
“The pure size of him, the brute strength was like nothing I had ever come across before or ever again. In the end, his motor probably wasn’t big enough for the NRL and that’s when he made the best decision of his life.’’
Several of those Rabbitohs teammates from the 2017 under-20s squad will line-up in a preliminary final next weekend.
Yet here Mailata is with the Philadelphia Eagles after being picked up as a seventh-round draft pick in 2018.
Here Mailata is poised to soar to the pointy end of Australian sport‘s highest-money earners after signing last weekend a four-year contract with Philadelphia worth a potential earning capacity of $108 million.
Mailata is guaranteed almost $56 million.
The Condell Park High school student will pocket $108 million should he meet performance clauses.
The only thing not big about Mailata is the fanfare of his story – but it’s building. Fast.
Although he’s yet to receive an inch of comparable media coverage, his 10 NFL games has already surpassed the feted and ultimately aborted NFL missions of former NRL star Jarryd Hayne and Valentine Holmes.
Like Hayne and Holmes, Mailata knew “peanuts” about how to play NFL only a few years ago – which is what made last week so impressive.
It was only one game, but Mailata’s thundering block in Philadelphia’s 32-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons last week was the type of moment that lifted the heads of local reporters from their laptops.
“There were 4 minutes and 25 seconds remaining in their 32-6 victory over the Falcons when perhaps the best reason to be optimistic about the Eagles this season revealed itself,” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski wrote.
“At that moment, Jordan Mailata, late on a Sunday afternoon, decided to demolish a man.”
Philly Voice’s Kyle Neubeck described it as an “absolutely levelling block … the sort of play that might draw cheers and yells when they show it in the film room this coming week.”
The Athletic’s Bo Wulf added: “If he plays all year like he did Sunday, the contract will quickly look like a bargain for the 24-year-old.”
On ESPN at 3am (AEST) Monday morning (Sunday afternoon in the US), Mailata will pull on his helmet and pads as starting left tackle for the Eagles against Super Bowl LVI contenders, the San Francisco 49ers.
It’s Mailata’s greatest test.
“You probably remember a movie called the Blind Side,” Former NFL star Colin Scotts told SEN radio this week.
“It’s ironic that Jordan has unique movie potential out of this (story) because he, like that movie, is in one of the most important positions on the field.
“It actually protects the quarterback.
“95 per cent of quarterback’s are right-handed, so when they come back from the snap, they’re about to throw the ball, so they can’t see the right defensive end coming around the corner.
“So the left tackle, where Jordan is playing, must protect that corner. Jordan is protecting the blind spot that the quarterback can’t see.
“It’s an incredibly high-pressure position.
“Against the 49ers will be a baptism of fire. Against the 49ers defensive line, watch out, because if he can stand-up against this defensive line of the 49ers, the world is his oyster.”
After playing in the under-9‘s to under-16’s for the Bulls on Saturday morning’s, Mailata would help in the canteen or cook bacon and eggs on the barbecue.
He was raised to have humility and respect for his opposition and his family.
Those closest to him are confident he will be wise with his monster salary.
“I’ve been wanting to buy my parents a house,” Mailata said last week.
“And so I can finally do that.”
Perhaps, a Slurpee too.
Super Bowl rocked by reporter’s death, arrest
A woman with a history of drugging men has been arrested in connection to the death of a reporter in New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl.
Ultimate Super Bowl guide: Swift, Trump and the Aussie hulk
From a Taylor Swift marriage proposal to the half time show and everything in between, we’ve got you covered – whether you’re a hardcore NFL fan, a Swiftie or just tuning in for the first time.