How Eagles’ Sean Mannion Could Repeat Kevin Patullo Disaster in Worst-Case Scenario

After a 2025 season that ended in massive frustration among the Philadelphia Eagles fanbase, the franchise's leadership decided to part ways with Kevin Patullo.

He struggled in his first year as a playcaller, and his departure was a sign of changes to come for this Eagles offense. They traded A.J. Brown, moved on from Jeff Stoutland, and added Makai Lemon and Dontayvion Wicks, among others, to the new-look offense.

But the hiring of Sean Mannion as offensive coordinator and playcaller was the biggest change. While there's optimism building for Mannion, the worst-case scenario, as Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox highlighted, would be a repeat of the Patullo experience for the Eagles.

"Worst-case scenario: Mannion isn't ready to be an OC," Knox writes. "... If it turns out that Mannion is in over his head, the offense won't be any better than it was in 2025."

Philadelphia's offense in 2025 was a total disaster, as the run game didn't work at all, and Eagles fans have seen enough hitch routes for a lifetime after just one year.

Now, looking ahead to 2026, Mannion, hopefully, in bringing a completely new offense to the team, will help move on from the Patullo experience.

However, there is one clear issue: Mannion has not had much experience as a coach, let alone as a play caller, in his life.

He was a coach with the Green Bay Packers for two seasons, moving as high as the quarterbacks coach in 2025 with Green Bay.

While hiring a QB coach to be a new offensive coordinator isn't a bad idea, Mannion is a different case as a QB coach who's never had experience calling plays before.

One of the main talking points for why the Patullo experience failed was that he was not ready to become an NFL offensive coordinator and playcaller.

He might've been a good position coach, or passing game coordinator, but as a playcaller, it's an entirely different gig.

Mannion is 34 years old and was taken in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, throwing for 573 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions on 60.9% completion rate.

Of course, his experience as an NFL QB doesn't translate to his ability as a play-caller, as seen with Kellen Moore's success with Philadelphia in 2024 after being a backup QB during his NFL career.

But, Mannion was trying to make it in the NFL as recently as 2023 as a practice squad QB, and three years later, he's now calling plays for a Super Bowl caliber Eagles roster.

It would not be a surprise at all if he wasn't ready for this job. With Knox noting this could be the worst-case scenario for the Eagles, it would just be a repeat of the problem that made Patullo fail as the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia last year.