Australian NFL star Jordan Mailata has taken his earnings further into the stratosphere, signing a three-year mega extension set to earn him $100million.
Mailata and the Philadelphia Eagles agreed on the extension that will take him through to the end of the 2028 season with new earnings of $33million a season.
It will be a significant boost to his current $24million-a-season deal that still has two years to run and dwarfs the $13m three-year deal Aussie punter Cameron Johnston recently signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The former South Sydney NRL junior is now the fourth-highest paid left tackle in the NFL, cementing his standing in the competition despite the 27-year-old not yet making the Pro Bowl.
It also caps a stunning ride for Mailata, who didn’t play in a single game in his first two NFL seasons on the Eagles roster, having been taken at pick 233 in the 2018 draft, before starting 10 games in 2020. He then beat out first-round pick Andre Dillard in 2021 to be the Eagles’ starting left tackle.
In the past three seasons, Mailata has started 47 games and was part of the Philadelphia outfit that lost the 2023 Super Bowl.
But as stunning as that immense new deal is, it still doesn’t make him the best-paid Aussie sports star.
According to Forbes’ list of the highest-earning golfers of 2023, Cameron Smith raked in $115million last year – although that was hugely inflated by his lucrative deal with the rebel LIV tour.
NBA star Ben Simmons is due to make $60million with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2024-25 season, according to Spotrac, which tracks player paydays across the major American sports.
However, Mailata has moved in front of F1 star Daniel Ricciardo, who earned $36million with McLaren in 2022 but has taken a pay cut to drive for the RB team this season.
Sydneysider Mailata first excelled at rugby league, catching the eyes of scouts from the Bulldogs NRL side and joined their under-18s program in 2014.
After a health scare took him out of the game for more than 18 months, he ended up playing for South Sydney’s under-20s and reserve-grade sides before his sheer size at 203cm and 142kg made him unsuited to playing the sport at the top level.
He made it into the NFL’s International Pathways Program and took to gridiron so well that he signed an $88million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022 after excelling as their left tackle on the offensive line – one of the most important and difficult positions to play in the sport.
‘I think I have so much to improve on in my game,’ Mailata said late in the 2023 campaign.
‘Every day I’m working with Stout (offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland) and he is pointing out parts of what I’m doing that can be better. I take everything he says seriously.
‘He’s the one who made me what I am today. Whatever he says, I’m going to do.
‘Everything is day to day with me. I love being part of this team and the fans are a huge part of what we do. Nothing is going to change that mindset.’
