Coming from a Samoan background, American Football was a massive learning curve for the young Aussie. One particularly brutal moment from his first fortnight training on US soil stood out for Mailata as his "welcome to America" moment.
"I remember it was training camp, week two. We were doing a drill where it was one-on-one," Mailata recalled. "I rose way too high and exposed my chest … I just got bullrushed. Helmet to the face and put on my arse."
"His name was Steven Means — he just got contracted again with the Atlanta Falcons."
Mailata learned very quickly that technique is everything. He remembers "everyone making a big deal" of his knockdown, which came from the comparatively minuscule (1.9m) Means.
"It didn't trouble me or worry me. I said 'I'm going to learn from this'. He told me 'you come up too early, I knew you'd be playing on your tippy toes so I just tried to bull you because that's the best move'.
"By the end of the training camp ... I wasn't getting bullrushed anymore."
Mailata said he was overwhelmed by the volume of food in the US. As an offensive tackle, the 21-year-old's diet comes in at a whopping 4800 calories a day.
"They've got a lot of food here, that's what shocked me, but they claim to have everything in the world — what they don't have is bloody pies," he said.
Mailata was one of the Aussies on show in Philadelphia on Friday as a part of the Down Under entourage for the Australian Heritage Night, hosted by none other than Four'N Twenty in their bid to crack into the USA market.
The growing Australian population in Philadelphia includes NBA stars Ben Simmons and Jonah Bolden, who have become Sixers favourites throughout their short time in the league.
INJURY STRIKES AUSSIE GIANT
Mailata was struck down with a season-ending back injury late in 2018, dashing hopes of a late season rise to the Eagles' starting squad.
There have been some big statements made about the potential superstar, despite not having experience as a youngster playing the game.
After seeing Mailata in action during the Eagles' penultimate pre-season game against the New York Jets, former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker predicted the Aussie giant will go on to become a star of the game and go All-Pro — an honour decided by the NFL media for the best players in each position every season.
"I no longer think 21-year-old Aussie LT Jordan Mailata is going to be a starting LT in the NFL," Tucker tweeted.
"I think he's going to be All-Pro. Borderline obsessed with this dude at this point. This is crazy. Eagles are going to go right from Peters to Peters Jr."
He'll just have to wait a little longer to get his shot.
