Jordan Mailata didn’t have a high school coach or a college coach. Jeff Stoutland is the only offensive line coach he’s ever known.
That’s what makes this so hard.
“I bawled my eyes out,” Mailata said in an interview with AP’s Rob Maaddi on Super Bowl radio row in San Francisco when asked his reaction to the news that the legendary offensive line coach was leaving the Eagles after 13 seasons.
“I’ll put it plain and simple, heartbroken. Yeah, it doesn’t feel good just because of everything I know, everything I’ve been taught has been by Stout.”
Whoever replaces Stoutland as offensive line coach will be under a microscope. It’s never easy following a legend.
“I’m interested to see where we go moving forward,” Mailata said. “But it’s gonna be an interesting challenge and I welcome it.”
In a career of triumphs, Mailata may be Stoutland’s greatest. A rugby player from Australia who had no exposure to American football as a kid became one of the NFL’s top left tackles and a 2nd-team All-Pro after learning the game from Stoutland. That just doesn’t happen.
In a separate interview on radio row with PHLY, Mailata recalled his conversation with Stoutland when the news broke that he was leaving the franchise he’s been with since 2013.
“I bawled my eyes out,” he said. “I talked to Stout and I couldn’t formulate a sentence. I was just crying. I told him I’d come see him as soon as I got back home.
“A lot of people are asking me to make a statement right now, online at least, on social media. I’m just like, I don’t think there are enough words to put in a social media post of what I think of the man and how much he’s helped change my life. To be honest, selfishly, I’m very heartbroken.”