Who Is Jordan Mailata? Australian Rugby Player Tries Out For NFL Teams

Jordan Mailata is not an American football player by trade — at least not yet.

But anyone who come across the massive Australian would be forgiven for thinking otherwise, with his staggering 6-foot-8, 345-pound size. The 21-year-old is as green as it gets — never having played a snap of American football — but he will visit five NFL teams in the coming week ahead of the upcoming draft, according to NFL.com’s Gil Brandt.

Mailata, who is Samoan, played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League in Australia last season. In a profile of his journey from the NRL to the NFL, teammates and coaches gushed about his extreme size and athleticism, which set him apart on the Rabbitohs’ under-20 team despite limited playing time.

Rabbitohs teammate Adam Douehi made Mailata sound like a force to be reckoned with while carrying the ball in an interview with NRL.com.

"Playing with him in the under 20s, you just had to give him the ball 10 meters out and no one could stop him from that close to the line," Doueihi said. "Last year he was unstoppable, and he actually hurt a few kids because he was such a big kid."

American football and rugby share some superficial similarities, but the transition for athletes of either sport can be quite challenging. Mailata projects as an offensive lineman at his size, meaning he would likely never touch the ball in the NFL. Still, he ran a 40-yard-dash in 5.0 seconds and clearly has the physical talent to do something in the NFL, as demonstrated by his NRL highlight reel.

Mailata has been working with trainer Aden Durde in preparation for the draft, according to NFL.com. Durde worked with German-born wide receiver Moritz Boehringer, who became the first European player to be drafted by an NFL team without playing college football. The Minnesota Vikings took Boehringer in the sixth round, but he never played in a regular season game for the team.

However, Mailata may have more in common with Jarryd Hayne, an Australian-born rugby player who had a brief stint in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. Hayne played eight games for the Niners in 2015 before returning to rugby.

It remains unclear if a team would use a draft pick on Mailata or just sign him as an undrafted free agent.