Eagles Sean Mannion and Jalen Hurts Have Something Important In Common

The Philadelphia Eagles' new offensive coordinator shared a story about the biggest influence in his life - his dad - while saying that the team's QB has been "awesome."

Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion met with reporters on May 21, nearly four months after he was hired. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – It was raining outside the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex on Thursday afternoon, so it would have been a perfect opportunity for new Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion to prove to a fan base dying to see what he will bring to the table that he can walk on water, the team will go 17-0, and win the Super Bowl. It didn't happen, but it might.

First impressions were very positive. The new guy is enthusiastic and is grateful for the opportunity. He really seems to know what he is talking about.

Social media lit up like lightning in the sky when it became known that the coordinators would be available to take reporters’ questions. Being the new guy, Mannion was on everyone’s must-listen-to interview list. The Q&A ran more than 22 minutes because it was the first time he went public since he was hired as the OC on Jan. 29, and we had plenty of questions.

Mannion, it seems, was destined for a life of coaching from about first grade. His dad, you see, is a high school football coach. And how about that? So, too, was Jalen Hurts’ dad, Averion. From where I sit, that’s a pretty good parallel right there. Football has coursed through the veins of the QB and the OC from a young age, and they share an intense passion for the sport.

Mannion Has No Doubts Hurts Will Be Fine In His Offense

Jalen Hurts talks at his locker during the Eagles' final day together as they cleaned out their lockers a day after their season ended in the first round of the playoffs. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

“Jalen’s been awesome,” said Mannion. “I really think that he can do anything that we ask of him. He’s accurate. He’s a great athlete. He really attacks the fundamentals. That’s what’s been really fun to watch these last two weeks of Phase Two. He’s always coming, wanting more things to work on, wanting more things regarding fundamentals, timing, understanding the scheme. He’s hungry for more.”

Mannion’s hunger began early. He would go to practices with his dad, John, and when he was about 4 or 5, he was content just building forts with the dummy bags. Then, at the ripe age of 6 or 7, he began to take notice of what his dad would do during practice, during games, during scouting trips to summer passing leagues – take notes on a yellow legal pad.

Suddenly, building dummy bag forts jumped the shark. He wanted to build offenses.

“At some point when I was a kid, I must’ve been 6 or 7 years old, I was taking notes and drawing plays,” he said.

Mannion even had his own yellow legal pad, and off he went. When he got his first NFL coaching job, with the Green Bay Packers, his dad had some pages of that very first legal pad framed.

“I still have it in my house,” he said. “It’s pretty cool. The scheme has evolved since then I will say, but it was a really cool special gift that he kept. Now, with my kids, I’m keeping everything. I’m keeping all that stuff because it was really special for him to keep that for me. Hopefully, one day I’ll have a chance to pass this along to my girls (he has two) or my son (he has one).”

Imagine something even cooler next spring – like the Lombardi Trophy spending some time in his house and a Super Bowl championship ring. Now, that would be really cool.