The Philadelphia Eagles saved their best for last, unleashing a 40-22 beatdown on the Kansas City Chiefs to secure the second Super Bowl victory in franchise history earlier this month.
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The Eagles' offensive line gave quarterback Jalen Hurts enough time to complete 17-for-22 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns on the night, while paving the way for 159 combined rushing yards for Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley on the ground.
Philadelphia's front five blockers served as unsung heroes throughout much of the season. Following the Eagles' championship victory, one of the team's most unsung blockers was given an incredible postseason ranking by Pro Football Focus.
"Top 101 NFL players from the 2024 season: #3: OT Jordan Mailata," Pro Football Focus wrote on its X account Saturday in a post viewed over 660,000 times.
The website added that Mailata's 95.1 PFF grade ranks second all-time by an offensive lineman in since it began carefully analyzing, ranking and grading players.
— PFF (@PFF) February 21, 2025Top 101 NFL players from the 2024 season:
#3: OT Jordan Mailata
95.1 PFF grade (2nd best by an OL in the PFF era) pic.twitter.com/WYQkux7T2A
Fans were aghast at the meteoric rise of the Eagles' mountain man.
"This dude never played a down of football before 2018 and just walked into the NFL. Truly an incredible story," one reader said.
"My guy didn't even know how to (put) shoulder pads on like five years ago," another added.
Mailata, who is 6-foot-8, 365 pounds, played rugby in Australia before finding a home on the Eagles in recent years.
