Jordan Mailata Has a Chance to Play vs. Cardinals
PHILADELPHIA – Jordan Mailata said there’s a chance.
The MRI he had done after his right shoulder came back cleaner than hoped. He is day-to-day now and could be back at left tackle when the Eagles put their 4-0 record on the line in Arizona on Sunday (4:25 p.m./FOX).
“I dodged a bullet,” said Mailata prior to Thursday’s outside practice.
He participated in the morning walkthrough but didn’t do anything when the scene switched to the back fields at the team’s NovaCare Complex.
“All I know is doctors said it was day to day so we’re doing everything we can as a team to get back on the field,” he said. “It kills me to be sitting out. Even now, just being part of the walkthrough kind of makes me happy but at the same time not being there for the boys kills me a lot.”
The news could be much worse, though.
Mailata’s shoulder popped out on a diving attempt to tackle Andre Cisco during Cisco’s 59-yard interception return in Sunday’s win over the Jaguars. He said it as the first time his shoulder ever popped out and had to pop it back in again.
“That’s when I tried an Olympic dive, a dolphin dive for an ankle tackle,” he joked. “Did you watch the replay? It didn’t look good. I was looking at it and was like could you at least make it look athletic?
“I’m disappointed in my unathletic ability to dive and ankle tackle so if anything that’s what I’m more upset about.”
Mailata feared the worse when he was summoned into the team doctor’s office to hear the results of the MRI.
“The first question I asked was how many games am I going to miss?” he said. “They said I’m not going to miss any. They said, you’re day to day, so just go and work on range of motion and strength in the arm and shoulder.”
That’s what will determine whether or not Mailata plays or not – his strength and range of motion.
There could also be the schedule that factors into it.
The Eagles have a game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night after they play the Cardinals. That will be a big early test in the NFC East. After that, the Eagles will have their bye week.
Perhaps the Eagles may want to make sure Mailata is 100% before playing him, preferring to have him for the Cowboys, knowing a loss against Arizona isn’t the end of the world.
When Mailata does play again, he said he would wear something he called "a cuff or a sling" but not a harness.
"Just so I don’t have to do any more acrobatic stunts on the field," he said.
Jack Driscoll is getting first-team snaps at left tackle and he would be the left tackle if Mailata cannot play.
The former fourth-round pick from Auburn entered the game for Mailata, though he hadn’t played left tackle since 2016 when he was at the University of Massachusetts and even then, it was only for two games.
“I feel like as the game went on, I felt more comfortable,” said Driscoll at his locker on Thursday. “It took a couple of plays, but as it went on, I got my footwork down. I felt like I was getting more comfortable as the game went on.”
Whoever plays left tackle, the challenge will be great, having to face Cardinals pass rusher, J.J. Watt.
Mailata, of course, is hoping it will be him who has that challenge.
“One of my goals this year was to start every game,” said Mailata, who missed two games last year with a knee injury and then sat out the meaningless regular-season finale against the Cowboys.
“I’m trying to be like (Jason) Kelce (who has started 126 straight games), fight, do everything I can to complete that goal of mine. So, it’s extremely important.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
