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Several general managers of NFL teams were present, including Jason Licht of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Rick Spielman of the Minnesota Vikings. The combine participants included 5 other international NFL prospects like Mailata, as well as a host of top-ranked college football prospects who did not receive an invite to the official NFL Combine. In March 2018, Mailata attended a combine at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice facility, at One Buc Place.
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Pre-draft scouting reports written about Mailata evaluated him as a "work in progress", and gave him the pro player comparison of Conor McDermott of the New York Jets. NFL scouts evaluated Mailata as a 5.5 prospect grade, which equates to a practice-squad player with a chance to make the bottom-end of the official NFL roster. During this training he was scouted by Jeff Stoutland, the offensive line coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. In February 2018, he went to IMG Academy in Florida to train under the supervision and guidance of coach Aden Durde.
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When asked what position he wanted to play, he suggested offensive tackle, since he knew of that position from the movie The Blind Side. Mailata had never played American football and admitted that his knowledge of the game was minimal, and also stated that he would watch only one NFL game a year, the Super Bowl. NFL career Īfter seeing video clips of him playing rugby league, NFL executives invited Mailata to try out for their International Player Pathway Program. There was no bad sentiment between Mailata and the Rabbitohs after the contract offer, as Mailata stated "They gave me a chance. Ultimately, Mailata declined the contract from the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Mailata was given the advice from his agency to "play a sport that appreciates his size".
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The South Sydney coaching staff did not believe that Mailata would be able to physically keep up with the pace and nature of professional rugby league, due to the free-flowing play and limited stoppages in games. It has been stated that Mailata was only offered a reserve-grade contract due to fitness and conditioning concerns. This partnership was intact from 2007 until 2018, when the agreement ended. The North Sydney Bears had a partnership with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in which they served as the Rabbitohs reserve grade team. The South Sydney Rabbitohs offered Mailata a one-year contract worth $5,000 Australian dollars to play for the North Sydney Bears.
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Mailata was then offered the opportunity to join the South Sydney Rabbitohs' U20s team in 2017. It was in this competition that Mailata attracted the attention of Ben Rogers, a recruitment agent for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. After coming back from surgery, Mailata and his two brothers Daniel and Moana played rugby league for Five Dock RSL Junior Rugby League in Five Dock, at the A-grade level in the Balmain competition. During this time, it was reported that Mailata had jumped from 147 kilograms to 166 kilograms. He went on hiatus from rugby league for over a year. This required surgery to repair both the upper and lower chambers of his heart.
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Ball Cup is an Under-18s rugby league football competition which is hosted in New South Wales. In 2014, Mailata fainted during a pre-season training session, one week before the Bulldog’s first scheduled game in the S.G. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are a professional rugby league side founded in 1934, and participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia.
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Jordan Mailata grew up playing rugby league for the Bankstown Bulls, and was selected for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' Under 18s team in 2015.