Veteran Eagles player 'felt like crying' after receiving team honor

As the Philadelphia Eagles dove into preparations for their regular-season opener versus the Green Bay Packers that will take place in Brazil this coming Friday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni revealed this past Friday that veteran left tackle Jordan Mailata had been named among the club's seven team captains for the upcoming campaign.

Mailata spoke on Sunday about being a first- time captain heading into what could become a make-or-break season regarding Sirianni's tenure with the organization.

"I felt like crying because it really shocked me, " Mailata explained, as shared by Chris Franklin of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. " After the first hour, I just felt honored just to be named a captain. That’s a huge deal, at least it is to me ."

NFL team-captain announcements rarely register even a blip on the radar. With that said, the Eagles are coming off their epic collapse that occurred during the second half of the 2023 season and that happened before they lost franchise cornerstones Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox to retirement.

Questions about the leadership style of quarterback Jalen Hurts arose even before the 2023 Eagles suffered an embarrassing 32-9 wild-card playoff loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that was Philadelphia's sixth defeat across seven games. Additionally, rumors about supposed behind-the-scenes issues between Hurts and Sirianni have hovered over the Eagles for months.

Thus, it may be impossible to overstate how important locker-room leaders such as Mailata, a 2018 seventh-round draft pick who has featured only for Philadelphia as a pro, will be for the Eagles with Sirianni facing an uncertain future.

"I t means everything to me, and it’s a way of seeing how your teammates see you, and I’m honored to be seen like that, " Mailata added during his comments. " I’m not going to change anything. I’m just going to keep being me and also understand that as a captain, a lot of eyes are on you and how you go about your business. "

Analysts and reporters likely will continue to mention former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as a possible replacement for Sirianni through early January and until Sirianni shows he can guide the Eagles to more than just a playoff berth. Of course, Sirianni can only do so much, and he may need veterans such as Mailata to speak up at some point this fall if the club is failing to meet expectations for a second straight season.