Paul Bretl | 5/15/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — New Packers’ quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion has some big shoes to fill, taking over a role that was previously held by Tom Clements, who during his career coached Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and most recently Jordan Love.
“Tom was a great mentor for me to work with last year, to just be around in the QB room was awesome,” Mannion said when speaking with reporters on Thursday. “Such a unique thing, for him to have his fingertips on three great quarterbacks in one organization. To me, Tom was just the picture of stability, being a stable presence in the QB room, even-keeled at all times. There’s a lot of stuff that the quarterback position has to juggle, but he was always a stable presence. And then I think just the focus on the details and the fundamentals, he was a great example of that.”
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Mannion joined the Packers’ coaching staff in 2024 as an offensive assistant and often worked with the quarterbacks. Following his own playing career, which began in 2015 as a third-round pick by the Rams, Mannion jumped right into coaching after retiring as a player in 2023.
Mannion’s playing career includes spending the 2017 season with Matt LaFleur when the two were with the LA Rams under head coach Sean McVay. That time with LaFleur and being in a similar offense helped Mannion assimilate to the Packers’ scheme last season because of the overlap. But beyond that element, Mannion really gained a greater understanding for playing the quarterback position during that 2017 season.
“I think the big thing was just our vision of the quarterback position was in perfect alignment because like I said when Matt got there with coach McVay in ’17, that was a really transformative experience for me in terms of learning how to play the position,” said Mannion. “I know as a player, it helped me greatly and again, having this in mind, it was always like, ‘Oh this is how you teach the quarterback position.’ I got to learn that from Matt directly.”
Even before Mannion made it to the NFL as a player, he knew that he wanted to be a coach. His dad was a longtime high school coach, so Mannion has spent most of his life around the game. So Mannion’s goal early on in his NFL career was to play as long as he could and then make the transition to coaching.
With playing opportunities drying up heading into Mannion’s final 2023 season, that summer, he really dove into the process of preparing himself to make that switch over to coaching. This included reaching out to LaFleur.
“I was reaching out to a bunch of people that I was fortunate to cross paths with, Matt being obviously one of them, so we spoke over the summer and I was getting things ready, kind of through our summer break, as a player, working on an interview presentation, working on learning to draw on the computer,” said Mannion. “I had my own film library. I was kind of working to hit the ground running in this field.”
Before interviewing with LaFleur and the Packers during the 2024 offseason, Mannion had another interview scheduled with the Chicago Bears. Beforehand, Mannion and LaFleur met virtually, at which point LaFleur let him know that after interviewing with the Bears, he and the Packers wanted that same opportunity.
“I had touched base with Matt and then when the season ended,” recalled Mannion, “I was following up with a bunch of people and Matt got right back to me and I was like, hey, I got this interview with the Bears, but i just wanted to circle back and follow up basically.
“So he said, we met over Zoom briefly and just chatted for a little while and he was like, yeah, go do your interview. And he let me do the interview and then he’s like, but we wanna interview you tomorrow so just make sure you fly here so we have an opportunity to interview as well, so I was really fortunate in that regard and went interviewed with the Bears and told them I was gonna interview here as well. Came here and I felt like it was a great fit and I was really thankful for the opportunity from Matt, but that’s kind of how it came together.”
Having nine years of recent NFL experience at the quarterback position, Mannion brings a different perspective to the Packers’ quarterback room–one that has walked in similar shoes as Jordan Love, Malik Willis, and the rest of the Packers’ quarterbacks. As Mannion put it, he can speak to what these players are going through from a preparation and on-field standpoint.
While Mannion may be stepping into a new and more prominent role, there is still a lot of continuity in the Packers’ quarterback room, within the coaching staff, and on the offense as a whole. So Mannion doesn’t have to step in and reinvent the wheel by any means either. A lot of the coaching and teaching points will remain similar because it’s still the same scheme and quarterbacks that he’s working with, but there will also be opportunities for Mannion to “sprinkle” in some of his own experiences when applicable.
Providing each player with an “honest assessment,” as Mannion called it, and being a clear communicator are two of his top priorities. And while Clemens may be retired, footwork and fundamentals will still remain at the core of every quarterback conversation that is had. At the end of the day, it’s Mannion’s job to support Love and the other quarterbacks as best he can to help put them in positions to be successful.
“He’s a great talent,” Mannion said of Love. “He’s a great person. He’s a great person to work with every day and he has great habits, so I think really when you combine those three things, really the sky is the limit. For him, what we’re really trying to focus on I think is the fundamentals and the footwork. I think, like I kinda spoke before, that’ll help you be your most consistent accuracy wise, decision making wise and timing wise.
“So that’s really our main area of focus with him. But it’s a pleasure to work with him and all the quarterbacks we have in the room on a daily basis because of their level of talent but then kind of the way they attack each day as a teammate and then as a quarterback.”