When the Eagles selected 6-foot-8, 346-pound Australian rugby player Jordan Mailata in the seventh round of the draft four months ago, everyone, including the Eagles' personnel people, figured he probably would spend his rookie season on the team's practice squad learning the fundamentals of playing offensive tackle.
But Mailata's surprisingly rapid development is forcing the Eagles to rethink that plan. His impressive play in the preseason, including the second half of Thursday's game against the Cleveland Browns, has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the NFL.
If the Eagles waive him later this week, which they would have to do before they could sign him to their practice squad, there's a pretty good chance he would get picked up by another team that sees the same potential that the Eagles do.