The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen: What New Eagles OC Sean Mannion Brings to Jalen Hurts

The quiet stretch before training camp is when the league's real homework gets done, and The Athletic's Ted Nguyen has a specific way of using it. With coaches scattered on vacation and rosters not yet under the lights, this is his window to pick brains.

One of his projects is a repeat from last year. Nguyen polls defensive coordinators and defensive coaches and asks them to rank who they think are the top 10 play callers in the league. The answers can surprise you.

"Last year, Shane Steichen made my made the top 10 and not a lot of people expected him to be in the top 10 based on what he did in Indianapolis," Nguyen said, "and all of a sudden they have one of the best offenses in the league last year."

The pre-camp conversations also tell him where the league is trending. Kirk Morrison, hosting the segment, steered it toward the new wave of play callers about to put their stamp on offenses, naming Decklin Doyle in Baltimore, Shawn McVay in Philadelphia, Nate Chillhouse carrying the offensive coordinator title with the Rams even though Sean McVay calls the plays, and Davis Webb taking over in Denver from Sean Payton.

Morrison framed it as a generational handoff, guys from a newer school of offense raised on RPOs, up-tempo, and multiple personnel groupings now inheriting the keys from coaches who have called plays for decades.

Nguyen sees the trend cutting the other direction stylistically. A lot of these newer play callers are pulling quarterbacks back under center.

"They're not looking for a guy that could go shotgun spread RPO," he said. "They're looking for guys that could go under center, use motion, and all those things because it's kind of come back into vogue in the league."

That backdrop is what makes one new coordinator his must-watch. Nguyen has personal history with Sean Mannion, the Eagles' new play caller. He watched Mannion play high school football and talked with him over the years while Mannion was a backup quarterback.

"I think Sean Mannion's going to be one of the most interesting new play callers to watch because he's going to the Eagles team with a ton of talent," Nguyen said.

The intrigue is what Mannion will ask of his quarterback. According to Nguyen, Mannion is going to push Jalen Hurts to do things he really hasn't done before: throw over the middle more and play under center more.

"That's going to be one of the most interesting storylines in the league, is how he adapts to Sean Mannion's offense and what kind of offense coordinator he's going to be in his first year," Nguyen said.

It is a real question for a roster that already has the talent to win. The Eagles are not asking Hurts to carry a rebuild. They are asking him to expand a game that has already taken them a long way, under a coordinator who knows him by reputation and is about to learn him in person.

For Nguyen, that is the kind of camp battle worth tracking, not for the roster spot, but for the shape of an offense still being drawn up.