Revelation Or Reboot? The Eagles Are Betting Big On Sean Mannion

PHILADELPHIA - Nick Sirianni came into his search for a new offensive coordinator looking for several things.

After 17 interviews, the Eagles' head coach came away with a revelation in the 33-year-old Sean Mannion, a long-time NFL backup quarterback with just two years of coaching experience under his belt in Green Bay and no play-calling history.

Coming off a disappointing offensive season in which so many of the struggles were tagged on former OC Kevin Patullo’s lack of experience with sequencing, assuming Philadelphia would run it back with another play-calling novice was not exactly the betting favorite.

“You go in, you have thoughts of what you might be looking for and different things, and there were a lot of things I went in looking for, and it went to Sean,” Sirianni said in a wide-ranging pre-Scouting Combine discussion with reporters last week at the Jefferson Health Training Complex.

“Some of the things [Mannion] hit and some of the things I thought maybe were important at the beginning [of the process] didn’t end up being that,” the Eagles' coach explained. “... Just a long process and going through that process just revealed itself:

"‘Hey, this is the right guy for this.’”

Sirianni went on to describe the “right guy” as a natural that the Eagles are essentially buying low on in anticipation of a very high ceiling as an offensive coach.

The Right Guy

Oct 19, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Mannion spent one year in an entry-level coaching assistant role with the Packers before being elevated to quarterbacks coach to replace Tom Clements, who was regarded as one of the best QB tutors in pro football.

The early returns were very good with Jordan Love improving with the Packers while working with Mannion day to day and backup Malik Willis rebuilt to the point that he’s expected to cash in during free agency as a potential starter elsewhere.

“You could tell right away how sharp [Mannion] was,” said Sirianni. “...It was very obvious. When you do that, when you cast the wide net, when you go through the process, it reveals itself to you who the right one is.”

With Mannion, the Eagles are ready to commit to a different style of offense rooted in the Kyle Shanahan- and Sean McVay-like concepts and schemes that Mannion is most familiar with.

“It was in the forefront of my mind to say I’m interested in this [scheme], but I didn’t necessarily say I have to have this then as the process went forward that’s where I got to,” Sirianni explained. “I think I went into [the process], I’d like for somebody to have some experience that’s done this.”

While most assume that the sea change is about the Eagles’ pedestrian passing game, Sirianni made sure to emphasize that the rushing attack, which plummeted last season, is also a significant part of the plan.

“With the way the NFL is now, without getting too schematic, you see a lot of teams where they’re reading pure progressions, they’re handling all the junk that’s being thrown at you by the defense,” Sirianni said. “Well, this version of the run game is kind of in that mix as well, and it’s the run game version of it, where there’s a lot of run game junk being thrown at you, this handles all of it.”

The offense is basically set to be a more evolved version of what Sirianni tried to implement last season, when things were going poorly on offense, a tweak that put quarterback Jalen Hurts under center more and tried to marry up the passing and ground games with more play-action looks.

The desire to get away from “separate pods” created some of the disconnect that resulted in well-regarded offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland leaving the organization.

“What I love about [the offense] is the way it meshes up and marries to the play action world and kind of how it fits some of the guys on our roster,” the coach said. “As you continue to go through it, I wouldn’t say I went in and said I had to have this system but as it went through it then it became obvious to me that I wanted to have this system.

“The more I learned about it, the more I thought about it, the more I talked to different guys about it, that’s kind of where I got to.”

The concepts and scheme are one thing but Mannion still didn’t check off the play-calling box which explained the interest in more veteran coaches like Mike McDaniel and Brian Daboll.

“Obviously, Sean has not had experience calling the plays, but that to me was second. We got into [the search] and that kind of changed,” Sirianni explained. “I’m like ‘No, this is the best guy for the job.’”

What Sirianni found he really wanted is something he has strived for since he took over the Eagles’ program in 2021: detail and conviction

“I was really looking for, regardless of what system or experience, what I was really looking for was, hey, the detail in which everything was explained to me, because the detail is so, so critical, conviction on what they believed, and why they believed in it, and the vision and conviction of that,” Sirianni said.

“OK, you haven’t called plays – but how do you go about thinking about calling plays in this particular area, the vision for the offense and the conviction for how you would call it, and all those things as you go throughout it,” the Eagles’ coach continued. “It became apparent that Sean was the guy for the job.”

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