Eagles' Star Offensive Lineman Failed the One-Rep Test

PHILADELPHIA - Former Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce is a fledgling media star as the co-host of the popular “New Heights Podcast” with his brother Travis, and an upcoming role on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” this fall.

Always a great quote, the future Hall of Famer has joked that he can judge if an offensive lineman can play after one rep.

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Kelce's mulligan is teammate and good friend Jordan Mailata.

“If I’m being honest he looked absolutely terrible,” Kelce admitted on social media when prompted to give his first impressions of the one-time Australian football novice whom Stoutland has molded into one of the best in the business.

Stoutland, of course, is in the conversation of being the best assistant coach in the NFL and his resume as the Eagles’ offensive line coach/run game coordinator is loaded with All-Pro players tutored by the veteran coach since arriving in Philadelphia as a part of Chip Kelly’s first staff for the 2013 season.

The headliners are those All-Pros like Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jason Peters, and Evan Mathis, along with multiple-time Pro Bowl selections like Brandon Brooks and Landon Dickerson.

The best example of Stoutland’s ability as a teacher and coach, however, is the 27-year-old Mailata has topped out as a Pro Bowl alternate over the past two seasons.

Over the past three seasons, Pro Football Focus has graded Mailata as a top-10 offensive tackle in each of the past three seasons – No. 3 in 2021, No. 9 in 2022, and No. 3 again last season behind only Detroit star Penei Sewell and future Hall of Famer Trent Williams of San Francisco.

Leave it to the six-time All-Pro Kelce to describe what ground zero was when Mailata arrived in 2018 as a seventh-round project Stoutland fell in love with during an International Pathway Program workout at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

The clay was very impressive, though. At 6-foot-8 and 380 pounds with the strength to match that frame and movement ability of a player 100 pounds lighter, Mailata spent two-plus years learning technique and fundamentals at what he later coined “Jeff Stoutland University.”

“He looked terrible because he had never played,” Kelce said. “The size and athleticism was obviously there, it was just a question of if it was going to click for him down the road with the techniques and fundamentals.”

It clicked in Year 3 when Mailata was forced onto the field due to an injury to Peters in Week 4 of the 2020 season. The raw project evolved into a legit LT by holding his own against 49ers’ All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa in his first start.

Even Stoutland admitted he didn’t know if Mailata was ready but a nearly 400-pound stone thrown into the deep end of the pool took to the demands of Jalen Hurts’ blindside in spectacular fashion.

Mailata was so good that he lapped 2019 first-round pick Andre Dillard, the player the Eagles tabbed as the heir apparent to Peters and wanted to win the LT job, and earned a four-year, $64M deal right before the start of the 2021 season. That was followed by a proactive three-year, $66 million extension this offseason.

Not bad after failing the one-rep test.

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