Jeff Stoutland’s one-liners are famous, but to some Eagles players, he’s their ‘sports father’

Jeff Stoutland has developed quite the reputation thanks to his success as the Eagles’ longtime offensive line coach. But Wednesday night’s episode of NFL Films Presents revealed just how respected and revered Stoutland is by his players, both past and present.

Narrated by former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who Stoutland had big impact on throughout his playing career, NFL Films opened the episode with Kelce’s famed Super Bowl parade speech, where he said, “And you know what underdogs is? It’s a hungry dog. Hungry dogs run fast.”

Though it doesn’t get attributed to Stoutand, the phrase “hungry dogs run fast” had been written in the Eagles’ building for five years at that point, thanks to the veteran coach who has a reputation for inspirational one-liners.

The episode then has several Eagles players, as well as Stoutland and his son, Jake, recall the “endless supply” of their favorite “Stout” quotes.

» READ MORE: M&M’s, baby powder, and blessings: How the Eagles’ Jeff Stoutland became the best O-line coach in football

“I always say this: ‘No man is an island, you must draw your strength from others,’” Stoutland said himself.

“If you’re not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks one time, I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said.

“Another one of his favorite ones is, ‘Effort requires no talent,’” his son Jake Stoutland added.

And from right tackle Lane Johnson: “If guys are kind of outside with their hands, “[It’s] lobster season in Maine again!”

But NFL Films also peeled back the layers of how wide-ranging Stoutland’s impact has been in producing 23 Pro Bowlers and 10 first-team All-Pros since joining the Eagles 12 years ago and developing elite offensive linemen, some of whom had never even played football before.

During a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Green Bay Packers last season, Mailata introduced himself as graduating from “Jeff Stoutland University” after a suggestion from fellow tackle Johnson. But Mailata, a former rugby playerfrom Australia, isn’t the only offensive lineman that Stoutland helped develop.

In the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl run, veteran left tackle Jason Peters was lost for the season to a torn ACL, and backup Halapoulivaati Vaitai stepped in and “had the game of his life in Super Bowl LII,” Kelce narrates.

“We don’t win that game without Vaitai,” Stoutland said. “We don’t, but he was ready to go when his time was called.”

From Vaitai to Mailata, Stoutland gets the best out of his players. Just two years after Mailata was drafted in the seventh (and final) round of the 2018 draft, the 6-foot-8 lineman was the Eagles’ starter at left tackle by Week 4 of the 2020 season, and has been a mainstay since. Mailata was rewarded for his play with a three-year, $66 million contract extension in April.

» READ MORE: From 2020: Eagles assistant coach Jeff Stoutland is still working overtime to get his young offensive line up to speed

But Stoutland recalled the early days of Mailata’s development.

“This guy never put his hand on the ground. I don’t even know if he knows what a football is,” Stoutland remembered. “He doesn’t know anything about football. It’s gonna take a while.”

It’s not lost on Mailata either.

“I wouldn’t be sitting in this room without him, and I wouldn’t have had a career without him,” Mailata added.

“Stoutland University” T-shirts have been sold by Stoutland to benefit the Eagles Autism Foundation.

Stoutland’s journey to the Eagles was a long one, and included six different stops at colleges over 29 years, from Southern Connecticut State to Alabama. But his wife, Allison, has been a big part of him getting to this point now 41 years into his coaching career.

“He works a lot, and that’s fine. He is devoted to his other family,” Allison said. “That’s what we say.”

But Allison is also devoted to this “other family.”

The funniest moment of the episode came when Allison recalled meeting Kelce’s wife, Kylie, early in their relationship. After an Eagles win, she remembered Kylie being much taller than her. Still, she affectionately warned her, “If you [expletive] with [Jason], I’ll kill you,” Allison said with a laugh.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Jeff Stoutland on bittersweet feeling of Jason Kelce retiring: ‘These guys are your family’

What stands out to Stoutland’s daughter, Madison, is how the Eagles’ O-line coach remains connected to all of his players.

“He still keeps in touch. We’ll see a game and one of his guys he’s coached before and is at a different team that was doing incredibly well, he sends him texts and says, ‘You crushed it. You did awesome,’” Madison said.

The episode closed with Stoutland listening to the Eagles’ offensive line’s Christmas album, which he says, “just brings me chills, the three of those guys. I really enjoy this.”

And in their closing statements, Mailata and Johnson show love to Coach Stout.

“Stout is one of the most important people to be in my life,” Mailata said. “I don’t think he knows how important he is to us as O-linemen.”

“Another father figure, my sports father,” Johnson added.

NFL Films Presents, currently in its 27th season, releases episodes every Wednesday night on Fox Sports 1 that focus on stories around the NFL, its players, coaches, and personalities.