Matt LaFleur: New Packers QB Coach Sean Mannion Has ‘Bright Future’

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur replaced longtime quarterbacks coach Tom Clements with Sean Mannion.
New Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion, while with the Vikings in 2021.
New Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion, while with the Vikings in 2021. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Former NFL quarterback Sean Mannion is Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s choice to be the team’s new quarterbacks coach, a source said in confirming what initially was reported by ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky.

Mannion was Jared Goff’s backup with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017, when LaFleur was the team’s offensive coordinator.

Last offseason, LaFleur gave Mannion his first chance as an NFL assistant coach. It was the foot in the door to replace Tom Clements, who at age 71 decided to retire after the season.

“He’s going to be an offensive assistant for us and he’ll be working primarily out of the quarterback room,” LaFleur said of Mannion at the time. “I love his past experience. I’ve coached him before in L.A. (and) I always figured he was going to go down this route.

“Matter of fact, when we played them earlier in the year [when Mannion was on the Vikings’ practice squad], he told me he was going to get into coaching. So, I was like, ‘All right, well, let me know when you’re going to become a coach.’ He’s just a guy that I’ve always respected how he went about his process, how he prepared for games, how he helped Jared in that situation (with the Rams) being a backup for us.”

Last year, Mannion was scheduled to interview for a position with the Chicago Bears. During the second half of the NFC Championship Game, LaFleur got together with Mannion via Zoom.

“He showed me what he was going to present, and I told him, ‘Wow, that’s pretty good. I think you should come up to Green Bay right when you’re done with that interview,’” LaFleur said. “And I’m surprised that they let him out of the building. They tried to get him, but I guess we had more to offer. But we’re lucky to have him. I really do think this guy’s going to have a bright future for us and certainly in the coaching profession.”

The future is now for Mannion, having spent a year alongside Clements, starting quarterback Jordan Love and backups Malik Willis and Sean Clifford.

This was the expected decision from LaFleur. When he announced that Clements had retired, he was asked if Mannion might take over.

“Yeah, potentially. We’ll see what happens,” LaFleur said, raising his eyebrows in an exaggerated fashion as if he knew Mannion would be the man.

Mannion will inherit a high-profile starter in Love, who had a breakout second half of the 2023 season, which resulted in a $220 million contract extension. His second year as the team’s starter wasn’t as sharp, though, with knee and groin injuries factoring in his performance.

As was the case in 2023, the first half of this season was plagued by interceptions. He curtailed those mistakes during the second half of the season, but the passing attack wasn’t as explosive, and he threw three interceptions in the playoff loss to the Eagles.

“I think the numbers tell you one thing, but you got to watch the tape, analyze the tape and see what areas can we get better in,” LaFleur said at the end of the season. 

“The one thing I did talk to him about was just the consistency of his footwork on some of these plays. I think he would be the first to tell you the same thing because there were some instances throughout the course of the season and, specifically, in this last game where the rhythm and timing [were off].”

It will be up to Mannion to dial in Love’s footwork and decision-making.

“The foundation of great quarterback play is the fundamentals, the techniques, the footwork,” LaFleur continued. “And I think we experienced that with him this year, to be honest with you. When he wasn’t practicing, it wasn’t quite as crisp. So, that’ll be on the forefront of our minds all the time, every practice, it’s just making sure our fundamentals are sharp.”

Mannion was a third-round pick by the St. Louis Rams in 2015 after setting a Pac-12 Conference record with 4,662 passing yards at Oregon State in 2013 and breaking the conference career passing yardage mark in 2014.

The 32-year-old started one game for the Rams in 2017, one game for the Vikings in 2019 and one more game for the Vikings in 2021. In 14 career games that included an 0-3 record in those starts, he completed 60.9 percent of his passes with one touchdown and three interceptions.

His last NFL action came at Green Bay in Week 17 of the 2022 season. With Mannion starting, the Packers won 37-10; Mannion was 22-of-36 passing for 189 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions.

“Good game or bad game you can’t totally alter the way you prepare, the way you study, the way you go from week to week based on your performance,” Mannion said during the 2018 preseason. “That has to be steady.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.