Veteran Vikings QB retires and joins the Packers for a fresh start.
Considered one of the closest friends and training partners of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, veteran Sean Mannion is ending his playing career and will coach the Green Bay Packers next season. I plan to cross the border.
“Former Rams, Vikings and Seahawks QB Sean Mannion has accepted a position on the Packers coaching staff, ending a nine-year NFL career,” ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported on Feb. 3. “He works with the QB and in the passing game.”
Mannion, 31, was a third-round pick of the St. Louis Rams in the 2015 draft. Mannion joined the Vikings in 2019 and has spent most of his career as a backup quarterback, and most of his value to the team has been in the boardroom. “Sean wasn’t Kirk’s study buddy. “If you’re going to have a first-time coordinator in Clint Kubiak, it makes perfect sense to have someone as articulate, as quick and as shared in his experience as Mannion,” KFAN’s Paul Allen said in August 2022. “If people say Sean Mannion can’t play and he’s our backup, it’s hard to argue that, but Cousins has benefited from having Mannion around.”
Kevin O’Connell’s new Vikings regime cut Mannion before the 2022 season. He returned to Minnesota for a third time last season, signing with the practice squad on Oct. 11 and joining the Seattle Seahawks in December. Mannion made three career starts, most recently in the Week 17 loss to the 2021 Packers in place of Cousins, who was in the COVID-19 protocol. He recorded the only shutout of his career in a 37-10 loss that eliminated the Vikings from the playoffs in coach Mike Zimmer’s final year. The Vikings should be concerned about coaching Packers QB Sean Mannion.
It’s hard to accept that the Packers found their third franchise quarterback in as many tries with Jordan Love, but giving Love a quarterback mentor like Mannion makes it worse.
“I’ve heard from multiple people over the years that Mannion was hired as a coach because of his intelligence and understanding of the game,” Henderson wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Seahawks general manager John Schneider even said Mannion would become a head coach in the league. Mannion will test Schneider’s words next season in Green Bay. “Sean could be a head coach in this league at some point,” Schneider told Seahawks.com. “…He’s like another coach in the room with Geno (Smith) and Drew (Locke).”
What Shawn Mannion’s retirement says about the future of the Vikings-Kirk cousins
Mannion has called it a career the last five years, following major changes at the two teams that hired him. The Seahawks are replacing legendary coach Pete Carroll with Mike McDonald, and the Vikings could move on from Cousins after six years.
Yes, the Vikings were comfortable without Mannion at quarterback in 2022. That doesn’t mean Mannion can’t help but wonder about Cousins’ future and whether he could have brought Cousins to his next team.
