I’m guessing a lot of Philadelphia Eagles fans had no idea who Sean Mannion was before the team interviewed him to be their offensive coordinator earlier this week.
Now he is employedBelow, let’s get to know the former Packers quarterbacks coach from a Green Bay perspective. I reached out to the great man Justice Mosqueda from Acme Packaging Company Kudos to him for his insights into Philadelphia’s new head coach.
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1 – Some Packers fans seem annoyed at losing Sean Mannion. Why is this happening?
I think Packers fans just want new leadership on offense because some of them haven’t fully embraced Matt LaFleur controlling that side of the ball. Adam Stenavich is currently the longest-tenured offensive coordinator in the NFL, and a lot of the blame for the structure of the offense (they love the run game, much to the dismay of many) is placed on him rather than Matt. Packers fans are hoping they can buy out their entire offensive staff this offseason. What happened was they let Jeff Hafley take whoever he wanted (mainly defensemen, but also Nathaniel Hackett) to Miami and didn’t fire any coaches (buyouts cost money). As a result, Mannion is viewed by some as the Stenavich/Hackett/Luke Getsy replacement for the 2026 OC job in Green Bay. For the most part, Mannion wasn’t talked about much as a potential future OC candidate until his name appeared on the East-West Shrine Bowl roster this offseason as the West’s offensive coordinator. Fans have remembered the name ever since.
2 – What are Packers players and coaches saying about Mannion?
LaFleur had nice things to say about him and said he was a smart player when they were with the Los Angeles Rams. The players seem to like him, but I do wonder how much Jordan Love/Malik Willis attention we’re devoting to Mannion, who just earned the on-field coaching job last year. Love and Willis will do much the same thing under Mannion in 2025 as they will do in 2024 under Tom Clements (the Packers quarterbacks coach who developed Rodgers from 2006 to 2016 and Love from 2022 to 2024).
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3 – To what extent, if at all, do you think Mannion deserves credit for the development of Jordan Love and the success Malik Willis has had when forced into action?
Well, it seems I have already answered this question, haha. LaFleur is heavily involved in the offense, with Sternavich as offensive coordinator, Jason Frable as passing game coordinator, and Gacy (LaFleur’s quarterbacks coach from 2019 to 2021) also having the title of “senior offensive assistant,” so it’s difficult to know who received which honors in Mannion’s year as quarterbacks coach.
4 – Based on what you know, do you think he can be an effective offensive coordinator in the NFL?
The cards here: Eric Galko, now running the East-West Shrine Bowl, was my boss in the XFL 2020. I talked to him about the situation there last week and he said Mannion did a good job setting up his West offense in that game. They finally won. I watched the game live and they used a lot of key Packers concepts throughout the game, like the boot move down the middle. What I’m interested in, though, is whether Mannion will be more involved in the quarterback running game alongside Jalen Hurts. LaFleur made a point of praising Sternavich’s quarterback-running ability whenever Malik Willis played for them. Sternavich is a former offensive line coach, so it makes more sense for him to be involved in the run game. LaFleur has already credited Steno, who has been credited with bringing the rotation series to Green Bay for the past two seasons, with the offense and debuting when Willis is forced into a starting role in 2024 against the Indianapolis Colts.
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5 – Is there anything else to know about Mannion?
I’m at Oregon State, so I’d be doing a disservice to Beaver fans if I didn’t mention that he left OSU as the Pac-12’s all-time passing leader. He played a lot of football under Mike Riley, who was heavily using the jet/boot move long before Sean McVay coached the Rams. Not surprisingly, McVay, LaFleur, Liam Cohen, Kevin Stefanski, Gary Kubiak, Clint Kubiak, Kevin O’Connell and Grant Udinski were all coaches he encountered as a player. I very much think he comes from the Kubiak-Shanahan-McVey tree.
