Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata gallivanted across the locker room while he carried a DSLR camera that he borrowed from a team employee, and snapped end-of-the-season photographs of teammates, coaches, and media bystanders.
Mailata wanted to capture his final moments with the 2022 Eagles on Tuesday. After the Eagles lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, this marked the final day that the group would meet together as a team.
Players will now depart Philadelphia over the next several days for their offseason homes. The Eagles are facing expected roster turnover with 20 pending free agents, including 10 starters.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take [to get over the loss],” Mailata said. “You’ve got to reflect on what you could’ve done better. There are multiple things in the game that I could’ve done better to help the team out. But we’ve also got to move forward and reflect on everything we accomplished this year as a team. We’ve got to be proud of that, we can’t just write that off.
“It’s hard. It’s kind of a blur right now. I don’t really have any emotions.”
Mailata said he was not expecting to undergo any type of offseason surgery on his right shoulder. During the team’s victory over the Jaguars in Week 4, he injured his shoulder while he attempted to make a diving tackle after Jalen Hurts was picked off. Mailata was sidelined for the following game.
Although he didn’t miss any additional time after Week 5, Mailata acknowledged that he played through pain for the remainder of the season. According to Mailata, he also never regained his full range of motion.
The 6-foot-8, 366-pounder is planning to incorporate a heavy dose of stretching and yoga in his offseason training regimen in order to regain full strength in his shoulder. On the opposite side of Mailata, right tackle Lane Johnson is expected to undergo surgery on a torn tendon in his groin this week. Johnson missed the final two games of the regular season while nursing the injury before he returned for the team’s three postseason games.
“I want to improve, my change of direction,” Mailata said. “Physically, I’ve got to make sure I’m balanced. And then it’s just learning the game plan, getting back in the playbook. You can never have too great of a football IQ. I’ve got to keep learning. Especially with [center Jason] Kelce figuring out what he’s going to do, I’ve got to upgrade my smarts.”
With another offseason of uncertainty hovering over Kelce, Mailata said he and other teammates are planning to give Kelce space while the five-time All-Pro weighs his potential retirement.
“Kelce reminded everybody the resiliency of this team, and the characters that make this team who we are,” Mailata said. “Kelce’s been Kelce, man. ... I’m going to give him his time and space. You’ve got to respect that. We talk about my feelings, but shoot — I don’t know what he must be going through. It must be hard for him.”
