There’s something in American society that wants to root for the underdog. The person, or team, that has no fighting chance to make it or be successful. It’s exemplified when the Patriots are playing someone in the Super Bowl, or when a team is playing Alabama in the College Playoffs…it’s instinctive to root for the team that hasn’t won before.
With the NFL continuing to grow in its market to other countries, athletes are becoming more and more interested in American Football and trying to make it in this league. One of those players this year happens to reign from Sydney, Australia. Only thing is…he just picked up a football for the first time only months ago.
Jordan Mailata has made a name for himself playing Rugby for the last several years. However, he has now ventured to make the switch to play American Football and try to make it in the NFL.
Rugby’s an intense sport, but does Mailata have the athleticism to make it in the NFL? The answer is…hell yes.
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Mailata is 6’8″, 345 lbs. and he ran an ungodly 5.0 40-yard dash at a pro day. Type in his name in Youtube and watch some of his Rugby highlights and you can see him absolutely wrecking people left and right. He’s got tremendous speed and power and it just jumps off the screen.
Mailata wants to come over and play Offensive Tackle at the NFL level. Based on the way he moves, his size and the upside he presents, he’s apparently getting lots of looks from NFL teams.
6’8, 345 pounds and runs a 5.0 40 yard dash? @PSchrags goes Down Under to introduce us to the most fascinating prospect of the 2018 #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/jj3d1mlscb
— GMFB (@gmfb) April 19, 2018
Could Mailata be a project for the Bears to invest in? Based on the reports in the video above, and the fact that he’s never played football before, Mailata is most likely not going to be higher than a 6th/7th round pick in next week’s draft.
With that being said, a couple of factors play into the narrative that the Bears might take a look at him when they’re on the clock…
One factor is that Ryan Pace has shown his willingness to draft players who are deemed “projects”. Adam Shaheen, Kevin White and Jordan Morgan are examples that pop into the minds of Bears fans. Pace has made it clear that he drafts based on talent evaluation and potential, rather than the school that you went to college at. He might be willing to take another similar risk here.
The other factor is that the Bears now have Harry Hiestand manning the fort as the Offensive Line coach. Hiestand, previously at Notre Dame, is well-respected in league circles for being able to take on players who might be deemed as “projects” and mold them into starters. (If you need any sort of evidence of that, look at Notre Dame’s OL from last season and see where Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey are projected to go in this year’s draft.)
Mailata is nowhere near ready to start…heck, he’s nowhere near ready to play. But with some time getting around the game of football, learning from Coach Hiestand and some proper training, Mailata could be an anchor for the Bears line two years down the road.
In the final rounds of the draft, you’re looking for upside. For the Bears, it just might come in the form of 6’8″ and 345 pounds.
