The Eagles Didn't Hire A Scheme With Sean Mannion

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni learned this lesson the hard way when he was interviewing to be the offensive coordinator under his mentor, legendary Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres.

Kehres set his former pupil up by asking the young coach what kind of offense he wanted to run.

Sirianni took the bait and began to answer with specific examples of what he envisioned his offense could be.

Kehres didn’t let Sirianni get too far down the path before pounding the table (perhaps that’s where Sirianni gets it from) and scolded his padawan. 

“You don't even know what players we will have. Until you know that, you won't know what our offense needs to be," Kehres said.

The teachable moment hit home for Sirianni.

You fit the scheme to the players, not the other way around. 

Sirianni carried that philosophy forward, and it arguably got him the Eagles’ head-coaching job when he revealed himself to Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman by talking about the three distinct offenses he helped build over a three-year span in Indianapolis due to upheaval at the quarterback position.

“If you’re hiring a scheme, you’re doing it wrong” is a cliche in NFL coaching circles for a reason.

Strong coaches maximize players’ strengths and minimize as many deficiencies as possible.

So consume as much content as you need to get you to September but understand the importance of flexibility based on the talent on hand means you can't predict Mannion's scheme in February.

In the battle of dogma over adaptability, the smart organizations want the latter. 

Successful coaches are valued for their ability to tailor a system to their current roster rather than forcing players into concepts that may have worked elsewhere with different talent.