Jaylon Smith not fined for helmet hit that gave Mailata a concussion

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Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith was not fined by the NFL for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata last week in North Texas.

The hit came on a play with 34 seconds left in the third quarter. Mailata was pulling to block when Smith lunged with his helmet and hit Mailata in the head.

“We'll take a look at it, send it in and see what happens,” Doug Pederson said the day after the game. “Jordan is in the [concussion] protocol, so that is all I can comment on that.

“As far as the hit and all that goes, those are things that happen. You don't want to see that obviously. Looked like a helmet blow type play. Again, it's unfortunate that that happened, but he's in the protocol and we'll see where he is each day this week.”

Mailata, 23, suffered a concussion on the play and has already been ruled out for the regular season finale tomorrow against Washington.

That hit ended what was a really promising year for Mailata, who might have done enough to prove he’s the Eagles’ left tackle of the future.

Coming into the season, the Eagles planned to play 2019 first-round pick Andre Dillard at left tackle but he suffered a torn biceps during training camp and missed the entire season. Then the Eagles paid Jason Peters to play left tackle but he hurt his foot, missed time and didn’t play well when he returned.

In all, Mailata ended up playing in 15 games and starting 10 for the Eagles this season. The level of play from the 6-foot-8, 346-pounder was impressive, especially considering how new he is to American football.

Mailata ended up ranking as the 44th best offensive tackle in the NFL, according to ProFootballFocus, but he showed a ton more promise than that and got better as his season went on. In all, Mailata gave up 7 sacks and 32 pressures but if he’s in a fair competition with Dillard in the summer, there’s a really good shot he wins it.

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