Jeff Stoutland’s one-liners are famous, but to some Eagles players, he’s their ‘sports father’
Jason Kelce narrated Wednesday’s episode of “NFL Films Presents” about the Eagles’ longtime offensive line coach.

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, past and present.
Narrated by former Eagles center Jason Kelce, on whom Stoutland had big impact throughout his playing career, the episode opened with Kelce’s famed Super Bowl parade speech, when he said, “And you know what an underdog is? It’s a hungry dog. ... Hungry dogs run faster.”
Although many fans don’t attribute it to Stoutland, the phrase “hungry dogs run faster” had been displayed in the Eagles’ building for five years at that point, thanks to the 62-year-old coach who has a reputation for inspirational one-liners.
The episode 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,’” Jeff Stoutland said.
Said left tackle Jordan Mailata: “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.”
Added Jake Stoutland: “Another one of his favorite ones is, ‘Effort requires no talent.’”
And from right tackle Lane Johnson: “If guys are kind of outside with their hands, ‘[It’s] lobster season in Maine again!‘”
The episode also peeled back the layers of Stoutland’s wide-ranging impact in coaching players to 23 Pro Bowl nods and 11 first-team All-Pros since he joined the Eagles in 2013 and developing elite offensive linemen, some of whom had never even played football before.
Origin of ‘Jeff Stoutland University’
During a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Green Bay Packers last season, Mailata introduced himself as having graduated from “Jeff Stoutland University” after a suggestion from fellow tackle Johnson. But Mailata, a former rugby player from Australia, isn’t the only offensive lineman 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 MCL, 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 selected 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 with a three-year, $66 million contract extension in April.
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 said. “He doesn’t know anything about football. It’s going to 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 said.
“Stoutland University” T-shirts have been sold by Stoutland to benefit the Eagles Autism Foundation.
‘Devoted to his other family’
Stoutland’s journey to the Eagles was long and included six 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, 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 also is 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 Kylie, “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, now 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.