Philly Front Office

Our long local nightmare is over. Getting rid of Kevin Patullo happened quickly after the season ended, but hiring a replacement has turned into a different animal. In a world where every interview is reported and dissected, it seemed like the Eagles were getting rejected by everyone. Whether that was true or not is a different story. Finally, with the hiring of Sean Mannion, we can stop with the rumors and finally move on to the offseason. So who is Sean Mannion anyway?

Eagles Offseason Part 3: Team Needs

The rise has been metioric. Just 2 years ago, Mannion was still playing QB for the Seattle Seahawks. He wasn’t getting any run, but he was signed to the practice squad and then the active roster in December. That was it though. At age 32, he retired having played in 14 games over 6 seasons. He threw 1 TD pass. Upon retirement, he immediately caught on as an assistant with the Packers. A year later he was the QB coach. A year after that he’s the offensive coordinator for a Super Bowl contender.

That is NOT who we thought the Eagles were going after. The Kevin Patullo experience left us yearning for a veteran playcaller, someone to compliment genius Vic Fangio on the other side of the ball. Initially the team was going after Brian Daboll and Mike McDaniel(s), but they took OC jobs elsewhere. They are former head coaches with the experience and the cache to lead a team. Sean Mannion is the opposite. He is green, but with certain things going in his favor.

Patullo imfamously never called plays before at any level. While the same is true for Mannion, he at least played QB  for Oregon State in college, was drafted in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft, and was in and around the NFL for 10 years. That’s not nothing. Our last OC was a WRs coach. They are not the same.

Why was Kevin Patullo Hired Again?

In that same vein, Patullo’s main experience was learning under Nick Sirianni. Mannion played under Sean McVey, Pete Carroll, and Matt LaFleur before LaFleur hired him as his assistant. While we may hate these guys for selfish reasons, they are certainly better football minds than anything the Eagles had in the building on offense last year.

Is this a good hire? I have no idea. We were all hoping for experience and I would have rather had McDaniel or Daboll, but they come with their own issues. Not only could there have been leadership clashes with Sirianni, but both would have likely been one and done with a good season. With Mannion being so young and inexperienced, he at least has the possibility of sticking around longer. Unfortunately, that also means he might be overly susceptible to Sirianni in his ear.

The big worry here is that the Eagles just took a big chance right in the middle of a Super Bowl window. It is very clear that their defense is legit and the offense kept the team from legitimately defending their title this year. Does Mannion help that? The team seems to think so.