Jordan Mailata knew only one way and for the duration of his career as the Philadelphia Eagles' left tackle he repeated the practice steps taught to him every day, watched film with the same intent, and went on the field and excelled.
But now the Eagles have a new offensive line coach in Chris Kuper and, with that, a new way of doing things.
"Chris is awesome. Chris has been a great addition to the team so far, bringing on new techniques. I think he's very familiar with this new (offensive) scheme we have, so his experience and knowledge within the scheme is really translating from the classroom to the field," Mailata said. "We're learning a bunch of stuff.
"I feel like a rookie again. It's great. It's a humbling experience and you should always be of that learning mindset. You should never think that you know everything. It's been fun. It's been great."
The offensive line is a huge, extremely important focal point for this 2026 Eagles offense and that's not different from any seasons past. What is different is that Kuper – a former Pro Bowl offensive guard in Denver who then went into coaching and who was most recently the Vikings' offensive line coach from 2022-2025 – is in town and he's bringing to the trenches what he knows, and what he knows works best in the Eagles new scheme.
The entire offensive line, Mailata included, is out of the comfort zone where it annually played as a top, top, top unit in the entire NFL. That is a good thing, Mailata says. The challenge is real.
"Very new learning experience, learning these new concepts and standards," Mailata said. "It's just something that, the more time we put in, the more we're going to get out of it. It's very educational so far. We're taking it day by day, so we'll see."