Eagles take a big swing by hiring Sean Mannion as OC

The Eagles landed on Sean Mannion in their search for a new OC, which definitely qualifies as a big swing.

By Dave Zangaro • Published January 30, 2026

The Eagles on Thursday hired a 33-year-old offensive coordinator who has been coaching in the NFL for just two seasons and will put the hopes of the 2026 season in his hands.

This is a big swing.

But after hearing so many of the uninspiring names that came up during this lengthy interview process — names like Matt Nagy, Mike Kafka and Josh Grizzard — the Eagles finally landed on Sean Mannion. They didn’t set out on this journey with Mannion in mind but they landed on him, which makes him the result of a true search.

There’s no guarantee this hire will work but at least there’s reason to be excited by it. It’s a high-risk, high-reward type of swing at a coach the Eagles identified would eventually become a hot name in NFL circles. Why wait?

At a certain point in this process, I began to talk about the Nagy Line. Basically, if you were to rank the candidates from most attractive to least attractive, Nagy probably would have been somewhere in the middle. And if you were thinking about hiring anyone below the Nagy Line, it was worth taking a bigger shot at a young up-and-comer.

Well, the Eagles took a shot.

You could certainly argue this wasn’t the time for a big swing. The Eagles are clearly in win-now mode just one season removed from a Super Bowl victory. Maybe they should have played it safe and found a coordinator who has more NFL experience, specifically NFL play-calling experience. That would be a fair argument. But there’s also a point where chasing experience just for the sake of having experience probably isn’t wise.

And as this process played out, it became apparent the Eagles were not going to disqualify intriguing candidates because they were a little green. They were interested in candidates like Declan Doyle, Charlie Weis Jr. and Mannion because they wanted fresh ideas. 

The hope is that Mannion will deliver them.

"It was quickly apparent in meeting with Sean that he is a bright young coach with a tremendous future ahead of him in this league,” head coach Nick Sirianni said in a statement. "I was impressed by his systematic views on offensive football and his strategic approach. Sean's 11 years in the NFL have provided him a great opportunity to learn from and grow alongside some of the best coaches in the game. As a result, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be invaluable to our team moving forward.”

That section of a much lengthier statement from Sirianni really stood out for one reason. He didn’t mention Mannion’s two years of NFL coaching experience or his nine years of NFL playing experience — Sirianni added them together.

That’s the way the Eagles are viewing Mannion’s resume. He has been around some of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL — guys like Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay, Kevin O’Connell, Gary Kubiak, Klint Kubiak, Zac Taylor, Dave Canales and more — throughout his career as a player and now as a coach. He learned from some of the best.

This search for an offensive coordinator was led by Sirianni, but obviously general manager Howie Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie were heavily involved too. And if there’s one thing we know about Lurie is that he doesn’t want his organization to be risk-averse.

To the contrary, Lurie urges his team to take calculated risks. Sometimes victory really does favor the bold. Lurie was bold in 1999 when he hired a different Packers QBs coach named Andy Reid. He was bold in 2016 when he hired Doug Pederson. And he was bold again in 2021 when he hired Sirianni.

It’s far too early to know whether or not the hiring of Mannion is a good decision. We won’t know that until September. But this was a big swing and that part probably shouldn’t be a surprise.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-hire-sean-mannion-offensive-coordinator-packers-risk-big-swing/710303/

Let's say it pays off and he turns the Eagles offense into a top offense. Can the Eagles keep him for a handful of years or does the merry-go-round continue.?

I will ask this though… is it really that exciting a hire? I can’t say I’ve heard his name mentioned a huge amount? Now that is probably because he was the QB coach at GB and they don’t tend to get much of a mention? But I hadn’t heard his name during this round of hires as a can’t miss guy who’s going to be a great offensive mind in the NFL? Obviously we hope he will be but I’m definitely concerned.