I'm really surprised this doesn't seem to have gotten any buzz on this board; it's a pretty big discussion on some forums.
I think this is a terrific development, and it's really flying under the radar. Nobody seems to know who this guy is, but we'll hear a lot about him over the coming year.
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At first glance, this just looks like some second-rate journeyman player who's simply doing whatever he can to hang around the league a few more years because he doesn't know anything else, but there's an awful lot more than that to Sean Mannion.
His Wonderlic was 40, which roughly corresponds to an IQ of around 140 - that's "near-genius" level. After graduating and being drafted by the Rams, he completed an interdisciplinary master's degree in political science, history, and sociology, with an eye toward becoming a college professor after retiring from football. He pulled a 3.7 GPA while completing the master's, while on an NFL roster. This is a
very intelligent guy, and there's no limit to the things he could do with his life outside of football if he passed on coaching.
When he was with Minnesota in 2019, Mike Zimmer raved about how smart he was and how well he understood the game, often saying that having him in the QB room was like having another coach. Kirk Cousins, who is 4 years older than Mannion, said a number of times that Mannion helped him a great deal, and credited Mannion with helping him become a more consistent quarterback. Cousins thought very highly of him.
Coaches in Seattle said the same thing, and counted on him to be a mentor to Geno Smith and Drew Lock. Seahawks GM John Schneider said that having him on the practice squad was like having a second quarterback coach, and said that the coaching staff considered him a peer. He also said Mannion is probably a future head coach if he decides to take that path.
He's apparently been on Lafleur's radar ever since 2017, when Matt was offensive coordinator for the Rams and worked closely with Mannion. Everywhere the guy's been, all the way back to high school, coaches and teammates have been impressed with his intelligence, his leadership, and his teaching skills. He's the only 3-year captain in the history of the Oregon State football program, having been voted in by his teammates every year starting as a sophomore.
I'm convinced this is a very good hire. He'll apparently be part of a 3-man coaching group, working all season under and with both QB coach Tom Clemens and WR coach/passing game coordinator Jason Vrable to help Jordan Love and the receivers. Lafleur said Clemens is coming back in 24 for one more year, but there is no guarantee he'll be back in 25. I think he expects Mannion to replace Clements when he does finally leave (which would indicate that Lafleur thinks very highly of him), and I think he has good reason to be confident in that. I believe this was a very smart move by Lafleur and Gutekunst.
Oh, and a bonus - a number of Vikings fans are majorly, majorly pissed that he came to work for us. Many of them have been clamoring for years already that the Vikings should just offer him a coaching job and ask him to retire as a player, and apparently quite a lot of them just assumed that when he did retire, he'd coach for them. Some of them are throwing tantrums and others are crying like babies. A lot of the Seattle fans seem to feel betrayed as well, but I don't take any pleasure in that. After living half my life in the Twin Cities, I love to stick it to the Viking fans.
:razz:
