Eagles break the bank to give Jordan Mailata a huge contract extension

Jordan Mailata won the left tackle job for the Philadelphia Eagles, and now he’ll get paid like the best at the position

Just before the Philadelphia Eagles departed for their season opener in Atlanta, they had some big contract news on Saturday. According to NFL insider Adam Caplan, the team and left tackle Jordan Mailata have agreed to a four-year, $64 million contract extension.

The deal can max out at $80 million, and it includes $40.85 million guaranteed. He’s now under contract through 2025.

The Eagles posted a video featuring Mailata to acknowledge the agreement.

“Excited to be here for another four years, representing this team and city,” Mailata said in a video posted to Twitter by the Eagles. “I can’t wait to keep representing my family and everything that I have in me. Give it to you guys to get this championship here. Remember, Go Birds, baby!”

Philadelphia Eagles: Jordan Mailata is a remarkable story

Mailata played Australian rugby and had no football experience before arriving at IMG Academy in January of 2018 as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program. But at 6-foot-8 and 346 pounds, his athletic gifts stood out and the Eagles took a seventh-round flier on him (No. 233 overall) in the 2018 draft.

Mailata did not play at all in his first two NFL seasons. But his development behind the scenes led to him starting 10 games last year, as Philadelphia’s offensive front was hit by injuries.

This training camp and preseason, Mailata competed with former first-round pick Andre Dillard to be Philadelphia’s starting left tackle and quickly became the favorite to win the job.

From playing rugby and not knowing anything about football, to being a seventh-round pick put in moth balls on game days for two seasons. Now, based on the base average annual value in his new deal ($16 million), Mailata is among the 10 highest-paid left tackles in the league.