Past insight from Tom Clements explains why his successor might be the right coach to elevate Jordan Love and Malik Willis in 2025

Tom Clements has received a lot of praise over the past few years. A quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator, and assistant head coach for the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2016, and QBs coach again for the past three years, he was an integral part of the development of both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love. Now, though, he decided to retire from the NFL.

Head coach Matt LaFleur promoted offensive assistant Sean Mannion to the QBs coach role, and Clements himself had talked about what the former NFL quarterback brings to the coaching staff and to his players.

"He has the experience of playing in the NFL for a number of years," said Clements of Mannion last offseason. "He can relay to Jordan (Love) and the other QBs certain approaches during the game or with particular plays. I think it's a benefit, he played in this offense basically, so he knows the plays, knows the ins and outs of them. So, he can provide those guys with some finer details that will help."

It's a different set of circumstances. Tom Clements played most of his career in the Canadian Football League, except for a short stint as a third-stringer for the Kansas City Chiefs. In Canada, he was a two-time Grey Cup Champion and the CFL Most Outstanding Player (the equivalent of the MVP) in 1987, his final playing season.

Sean Mannion spent much more time in the NFL. A third round pick in 2015 out of Oregon State, Mannion started his career with the St. Louis Rams, and then moved with them to Los Angeles. After his rookie contract, when he barely played, he went back and forth playing for the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks. Seriously. He had three stints with each franchise.

His last appearance in a game was exactly against the Packers, in 2021, but his NFL career went through 2023.

Perceived as a future coach for a long time, Sean Mannion finally decided to retire and move to coaching last offseason. He was ready for an interview with the Chicago Bears, but LaFleur had access to his interview material and decided to go after him.

"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 doing that interview,'" LaFleur mentioned when the Packers hired Mannion. "I'm surprised they let him out of the building. They tried to get him, but I guess we had more to offer."

By that point, Tom Clements' succession plan was in place, and the Packers knew he was probably entering his final year as a coach. When Clements confirmed his plans, Green Bay had to go through a hiring process following the NFL rules, but Mannion was always the favorite to land the job.

After one year on the staff, he knows the system, knows the quarterback room, and is ready to keep the process of elevating Jordan Love.

New approach

Last year, the Packers had three assistant coaches taking care of the signal callers. Tom Clements was the quarterbacks coach, Connor Lewis was the assistant QBs coach, and Mannion had the offensive assistant role, but worked primarily with quarterbacks as well.

In 2025, the approach will be slightly different. Without Clements, Mannion was promoted, and Lewis was elevated to pass game specialist/game management, so he won't work exclusively with the quarterbacks anymore—even though he already had game management tasks in his routine.

On the other hand, it's possible that senior assistant Luke Getsy will work closely with the QBs, as he was the Packers' quarterbacks coach from 2019 to 2021.