February 02, 2026
Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay greets Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur following the game at Lambeau Field.
New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion doesn't have a known scheme. He has never designed an NFL or college offense. He has never called plays at any level. He never coached in college and has just two seasons of NFL coaching under his belt, as an offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach in Green Bay.
The offensive scheme that the Eagles will showcase Week 1 of the 2026 season will create the first existing film of the 33-year-old coordinator's playbook that doesn't include practice footage from Mannion's recent cameo as offensive coordinator of the West team at the Shrine Bowl. (But if you're looking for his Shrine plays, click here for Shawn Syed of SumerSports' breakdown).
In order to best understand the kind of scheme Mannion intends to implement into the Eagles' offense, and how it was influenced, it's best to examine the coaches Mannion played for during his nine-year career as an NFL journeyman backup quarterback, and those he coached under in his short time with the Packers.
When Mannion was a rookie for the St. Louis Rams, Boras became the offensive coordinator in December after the team fired Frank Cignetti Jr. Boras had been the Rams' tight ends coach for three seasons under OC Brian Schottenheimer, an 11-personnel, vertical pass game proponent from the "Air Coryell" school. Scottenheimer's offenses then – and now as Cowboys HC – generally featured three-receiver formations (known as 11 personnel) and aimed to stress defenses over the top. In 2016, Mannion's second NFL season, the Rams had moved to Los Angeles and drafted QB Jared Goff with the No. 1 pick. HC Jeff Fisher was fired after 13 games, and the Rams cleaned house in the offseason, hiring Sean McVay as their next head coach.
The offense McVay ran his first few years with the Rams is far from the version he has ran the past two seasons. Back then, McVay was an 11-personnel-heavy play caller like Schottenheimer but his offenses were more balanced, emphasized a wide/outside zone run game, heavy motion, and didn't involve the tight end in the passing game nearly as much as McVay's offenses have done for the past two seasons. McVay's offensive influence was Mike Shanahan. He coached four seasons in Washington under Shanahan and then stayed after the team fired Shanahan and hired new HC Jay Gruden, another West Coast offense disciple who leaned more on the pass than run. McVay spent the next three seasons as Gruden's OC.
McVay's offenses in Los Angeles bared resemblance to those vintage Shanahan-designed Broncos offenses of the late 1990s, although McVay moved away from the fullback and multiple tight end personnel groupings. But the Shanahan run-first philosophy stuck. RB Todd Gurley compiled nearly 2,100 yards from scrimmage in McVay's first season along with an NFL-best 19 total touchdowns. Gurley was also the top pass-catcher, followed by receivers Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins. Mannion's OC under the McVay regime was Matt LaFleur, who Mannion would later coach under. Mannion started just one game in his two seasons under McVay and attempted just 40 passes.
Mannion signed with the Vikings in 2019 under HC Mike Zimmer, but the offensive coaching staff featured a blend of accomplished veterans and up-comers. Gary Kubiak, who was Mike Shanahan's right-hand man in Denver for Super Bowls 32 and 33 then himself coached Denver to a Super Bowl in 2015, was Zimmer's assistant HC. Kubiak is considered the godfather of the outside/wide zone run that became a staple of Shanahan's offense. Also on the Vikings' staff in 2019 was Gary's son, Klint Kubiak (QBs coach), who on Sunday will attempt to win the Super Bowl as Seattle's OC before heading to Las Vegas to become the Raiders' HC.
Stefanski's offensive structure in Minnesota – and later as head coach in Cleveland – came straight from the Shanahan/Kubiak playbook. He leaned heavily on two-tight end sets (12 personnel) and used a fullback (21 personnel), partly because the Vikings were bare in the WR cupboard, and mainly because it's a staple of the Shanahan/Kubiak offense. QB Kirk Cousins, in his second season with the Vikings, made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career despite having just one receiver (Stefon Diggs) eclipse 1,000 yards. RB Dalvin Cook compiled 1,654 total yards and scored 13 touchdowns to make the first of four straight Pro Bowls.
Stefanski left after 2019 to become Browns HC, leading to Gary Kubiak's promotion to OC. The Vikings finished fourth in total offense this season. Then-rookie WR Justin Jefferson totaled 1,400 receiving yards and seven touchdowns while Adam Thielen added 74 more receptions for 925 yards and a whopping 14 touchdowns. The offense continued to use a fullback and multiple tight ends, work its passing game off play action from under center, and finished the year ranked fourth in total yards. Mannion didn't appear in any games.
Mannion signed with the Seahawks, who were coached by Pete Carroll with Shane Waldron as OC. Waldron was McVay's pass game coordinator in 2018, when Mannion spent his final season with the Rams, so there was familiarity with the offensive scheme, but Mannion didn't make the team. He returned to the Vikings, where Klint Kubiak had succeeded his retired father as OC. Mannion was promoted from the practice squad in late September and served as Cousins' backup. Like his father, Klint's scheme was rooted in running from wide zone concepts, going under center, and working the pass game off play action. He used a fullback and multiple tight ends. Minnesota's offense ranked 12th in total yards while Zimmer's defense fell apart and the team finished 8-9. Cousins, Cook, Jefferson and Wilmington, Del., native RT Brian O'Neill all made the Pro Bowl. Mannion started the season finale, passing for 126 yards and throwing two picks in a 21-19 loss in his second pro start.
Mannion was cut by the Vikings late in training camp the following season, then returned to Seattle and spent a year on the Seahawks' practice squad. Waldron was still OC. From 2016-2020, Waldron had coached with McVay in Washington and under McVay with the Rams, and the McVay concept of run-heavy, zone run-based schemes blended with Carroll's vision for the Seahawks, who had just traded QB Russell Wilson to go forward with Geno Smith.
Waldron added tempo to the offense and stayed within the 12-personnel identity but his offense was 60-percent shotgun-based – perhaps catered to Smith's strengths – and passed at nearly a 60-percent clip, but that could have been due to Seattle's lagging defense and the team's 8-9 record. Also on the offensive staff was QBs coach Dave Canales, who would become Tampa Bay's OC in 2023, have great success with Baker Mayfield and in 2024 become Carolina's HC. Mannion returned to the Seahawks for a third time late in 2023, again under Waldron, after a short stint on the Vikings' practice squad.
Mannion was unemployed until late October, when he rejoined the Vikings for a third time, signing to the practice squad. He was released in late November, so he was only there for a short time under head coach and offensive play caller Kevin O'Connell, also a former NFL journeyman backup QB. O'Connell and Mannion hadn't crossed paths before, but O'Connell had been McVay's OC for the Rams in 2020 and 2021. Before that, O'Connell was with Washington from 2017-2019 under Gruden, becoming OC in 2019. O'Connell offense is more like McVay's – 11-personnel-heavy, under center, play action, etc. The Vikings finished 10th in total offense that season despite getting nine starts from Nick Mullens, Joshua Dobbs and Jaren Hall. Also on O'Connell's staff was assistant QBs coach Grant Udinski, who's now Jags OC under HC Liam Coen (who coached under McVay in L.A.) and had interviewed for the Browns' HC job.
Mannion retired after the 2023 season and immediately got a job as an offensive assistant for the Packers, reuniting with Matt LaFleur, who is rooted in the Shanahan and McVay trees. LaFleur was Washington's QBs coach from 2010-2013 as Mike Shanahan was HC and his son, Kyle, was OC. From 2015-2016, LaFleur became QBs coach in Atlanta, where Kyle had become OC under HC Dan Quinn. In 2017, LaFleur became McVay's OC in LA. before leaving in 2018 to become the Titans' play-calling OC. LaFleur was then named Packers HC in 2019.
Although LaFleur spent more time working under the Shanahans, his offenses and his adaptability are more common with McVay. Behind LaFleur's under center-based offense, QB Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021. After Rodgers left following the 2022 season, LaFleur tinkered with his scheme for new QB Jordan Love. He integrated more between-tackles runs since acquiring power RB Josh Jacobs in 2024 and has even used gap schemes that involve pulling offensive linemen, a deviation from the wide zone that typically accompanies the Shanahan-McVay tree. LaFleur has also countered the NFL's growing two-high defensive structures by incorporating more shotgun-based/RPO schemes that match modern offensive concepts designed to stress the middle of the field.
It's also important to note that Mannion spent 2024 learning from then-Packers QBs coach Tom Clements, who had been with the Packers from 2006-2016 as QBs coach, OC and assistant HC. In that time, Rodgers made six Pro Bowls, won MVP twice and led Green Bay to a Super Bowl title. Clements, a former Notre Dame QB who led the Irish to a national championship in 1973, retired after the 2024 season and the keys were handed to Mannion.
In a press conference with the Packers (presumably after he was named QBs coach), Mannion said he was already using the latter days of his playing career to "weaponize" his imminent career as a coach. Here's the video, via Jeff Skversky's YouTube page. Mannion specifically mentioned LaFleur and "all those coaches in L.A. that I got to work with" as his main influences and his biggest asset as he prepared to break into coaching.
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