Eagles’ Jordan Mailata on Brian Johnson’s firing: ‘Has to be a finger pointed somewhere’

LAS VEGAS — Jordan Mailata wasn’t surprised when he found out that Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson had been fired.

The left tackle is no longer the wide-eyed neophyte who knew little about football, let alone the business of the NFL, when he joined the league six years ago. And after the Eagles’ late-season collapse in which they lost six of their final seven games, Mailata said he knew someone was going to have to pay the price.

It ended up not being head coach Nick Sirianni, and Johnson, defensive coordinator Sean Desai, and others on the coaching staff were let go.

“I think when the season ends the way it did, there has to be a finger pointed somewhere,” Mailata said Thursday. “That’s just how the cards are played. I don’t know what happened. Very rarely do they talk to us players about it. But when you see that kind of [losing] happening, somebody has to [go]. It’s the nature of the business.”

Mailata, 26, was on radio row at Super Bowl LVIII promoting the National Rugby League, the organization he last played for before the Eagles took a gamble on the Australian in the 2018 draft.

But he took a little time between courting NFL stars and celebrities to become fans of the NRL to talk about the staff changes the Eagles made since their season ended with a 32-9 loss at the Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.

Sirianni acted fast in finding replacements for Johnson and Desai. He hired Kellen Moore, formerly of the Chargers and Cowboys, as offensive coordinator and the veteran Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator.

Fangio will be in a role similar to previous defensive coordinators under Sirianni. Effectively, he will be the head coach of the defense. But Moore represents a change on the offensive side because he will bring in a new scheme to supersede or pair with Sirianni’s existing one that had gotten stale.

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“I know he’s bringing in a new offense,” Mailata said of Moore. “Hopefully, it’s similar to what we’ve been running. I assume it is. If you watch the film and what I’ve seen from Dallas, it kind of looks the same. It might be different terminology.

“But I’m excited to be headed in a new direction.”

Moore, 34, who spent just one season in Los Angeles after four as Dallas’ offensive coordinator, has already started reaching out to Eagles players. Wide receiver Britain Covey, who was also making the rounds on radio row, said Moore recently called him.

Johnson, meanwhile, reportedly took a job with the Commanders as an offensive assistant. He interviewed for several NFL head coaching openings before and after he was fired, and several coordinator positions after his departure from Philadelphia, but he’ll end up having to take a step back.

His one year as a coordinator saw the Eagles’ offense regress, but some within the organization viewed Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts as more culpable for the decline. Johnson called plays, but it was the head coach’s scheme, and Hurts struggled with more freedom at the line this season.

Mailata was asked whether he thought that Johnson was a scapegoat for the coach and quarterback, whom Johnson, 35, had a relationship with since Hurts was 4 years old.

“I don’t know,” Mailata said. “I don’t know the conversations that were being had behind closed doors.”

Most of Mailata’s time on radio row was spent on the lighter subject of recruiting NFL players and fans to the NRL.

“The league that I came from,” Mailata said. “So they’re coming here March 2, Las Vegas, playing at Allegiant [Stadium]. Four teams are coming from Down Under, one of them I played for — South Sydney Rabbitohs.”

Mailata, who was followed by a video crew, grabbed various current and former NFL players like ex-Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and Covey, along with celebrities like wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, whom the 6-foot-8, 365-pound offensive lineman towered over.

Earlier, Mailata had given Eagles center Jason Kelce a rugby clinic. Aside from stopping by Chris Long’s Green Light podcast for an appearance, Kelce kept a mostly low profile on radio row and declined interviews.

Kelce has been otherwise omnipresent this week as his brother, Travis, attempts to win a third Super Bowl with the Chiefs. But Kelce is still mulling his possible retirement and won’t make a decision until after Sunday.

Mailata said he hopes the future Hall of Famer returns for a 14th season.

“I think he’s having too much fun now to make a decision,” he said.