Australian Jordan Mailata has signed a lucrative four-year contract extension with NFL side Philadelphia Eagles.
The 24-year-old, who hails from Bankstown, grew up playing rugby league and represented both the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs at youth level.
In 2017, Mailata was reportedly offered a one-year contract worth $5,000 to play for the North Sydney Bears - a deal he rejected to pursue an NFL career.
After attending the IMG Academy in early 2018, the 203cm-tall giant was a seventh-round draft pick for the Eagles, who took him under their wing and transformed him into a real prospect.
Mailata barely saw any action during his first two seasons in the NFL but enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2020 as he made 15 appearances with 10 of those starts.
The young Aussie's performances have ultimately seen the Eagles hand him a new deal that ESPN reports could be worth up to US$80 million with just over half of that guaranteed.
"Excited to be here for another four years representing this team and city," Mailata said via an Eagles video posted on Twitter.
"I can't wait to keep representing my family and give it everything that I have in me to get a championship here."
General manager Howie Roseman hailed Mailata's NFL transformation with their gamble on the former rugby league junior paying off big time for both club and player.
"I think the rationale (on taking the chance to draft Mailata) was that this guy was so physically gifted and we had spent so much time on him that if he was going to succeed or fail, we wanted him to do it in Philly," Roseman said.
"We committed when we drafted him that the first two years we were going to develop him.
"He's a freak show. It was all new to him. Those first two years, I'm not sure we got a lot of return on the investment, but it started last year when he played.
"Stout continued to work with him and, like all of our young players, you could see Jordan getting better and better."
The Eagles kick off their new season against Atlanta Falcons on Monday morning (AEST).