QB In His Corner: Sean Mannion Still Has Jalen Hurts' Endorsement

PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts is not backing away from Sean Mannion.

With the Eagles’ offense stuck near the bottom of the league and questions mounting about the first-year coordinator’s scheme, the QB1 described Mannion as “a warrior, a soldier” at his weekly press availability and noted that the current rough stretch is building equity between the duo rather than tearing them apart.

“Obviously these times are where times you get to build with someone and go through things with someone, and I think that builds equity in everything that we do together,” Hurts said. “And so I’m excited to go to bat with him.”

The comments came as Philadelphia sits at 2-2 and searches for an identity four games into Mannion’s stint as offensive coordinator and play-caller.

The Eagles are averaging 18.8 points and about 270 yards a game, ranking near the bottom of the NFL in both categories, with the passing attack especially shaky. They have stalled in consecutive losses: a 27-7 defeat in Chicago followed by a 24-20 home loss to the Rams in which the offense totaled 172 yards and went 0-for-12 on third down.

Hurts has repeatedly framed those subpar performances as execution problems, not schematic ones.

After the Rams game, the QB1 used the phrase “poor execution” repeatedly and declined to pin the failure on Mannion’s plan.

Head coach Nick Sirianni has been more blunt about the public heat, saying of Mannion, “He’s gonna wear a lot of this. There’s no doubt.”

Mannion, hired from the Packers’ quarterbacks room with a background in the McVay-O’Connell-LaFleur tree, has shown no interest in abandoning the offense he was brought in to install.

He said this week the staff still believes in the under-center, outside-zone, play-action structure and intends to “keep leaning into” it.

“We're here and we're implementing something that we absolutely believe in,” said Mannion. “You're always looking, like we've said, throughout this process, to make it as good as it can be and add tweaks and add wrinkles here and there.

“We believe in the things that we've installed and that we've implemented from a fundamental perspective in terms of the structure of our offense. We're going to keep leaning into that and make it as good as it can be. … Really nothing's changed in terms of our outlook on our offense, and our identity and what we want to be offensively. But each week, you're always looking to attack in the best way possible, either by looking at yourself and the things that you can add and tweak or looking at your opponent and what needs to be tailored to that."

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Oct 4, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) before kick off against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Through four games, the Eagles have run play-action at one of the league’s lowest rates and have been inefficient from under center, a gap critics have treated as evidence the new system and the personnel are not yet aligned.

Asked by Eagles On SI how Mannion is handling the adversity, and what he has seen in daily meetings, the quarterback stayed on the relationship, with the “warrior” sentiment.

That posture fits a pattern.

Early in the season, Hurts preached patience and building in-game chemistry with a play-caller working from the booth, something he had not done in the NFL, and about getting “hip-to-hip” with Mannion over time.

Wins over the Commanders and the Titans masked some of the growing pains. The last two games have not.

The Eagles are in London on Sunday to square off with a talented Jacksonville team while looking for the version of the offense they described in the spring.

And they will have to do it with a makeshift offensive line with no Lane Johnson (retired on Tuesday), Cam Jurgens (traded to Baltimore on Wednesday), and perhaps Drew Kendall, who missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday with a knee injury.

Mannion has insisted his core tenets are unwavering even though, all too often, they haven’t shown up on game days. For now, Hurts is still willing to absorb the shrapnel with the young offensive coordinator.

In Philadelphia, that kind of public cover from the quarterback buys time. It does not buy results. If the endorsement from Hurts is pulled and the messaging begins to change, Mannion will have one-and-done concerns to deal with.

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