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Mannion gets more than a T-shirt from Rams
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_049816b3-70bd-54ef-a178-b9c662266444.html
It’s a tradition of sorts for teams to hand out trinkets to prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine. A hat, a T-shirt, etc.
Turns out the only T-shirt Sean Mannion got back in February in Indianapolis was from the Rams. So maybe this was meant to be.
“You know what?” Mannion said. “This is the only one I need now.”
For sure. When he got the phone call last Friday night from the Rams drafting him in the third round, Mannion dug out that T-shirt and conveniently put it on for a television interview a few minutes later.
“I guess I was just lucky,” Mannion said on a conference call that night. “It was the only NFL team shirt I had, so it must have been quite a coincidence.”
Actually, it was no coincidence at all that Jeff Fisher and the Rams added Mannion at quarterback. The Rams got a long look at him during the pre-draft process, aided by the fact that he made himself available for everything.
He participated in the Senior Bowl in January, did everything but the bench press at the combine (including a formal interview with the Rams), threw at Oregon State’s pro day in March and met with the Rams for a private workout two weeks ago in Corvallis, Ore.
Mannion said he came away from his combine visit with more than that Rams T-shirt.
“Leaving it, I felt really, really good about it,” he said. “I thought I had a really good meeting with them.”
Three weeks later at his pro day, the Rams came away with good feelings about Mannion.
“All the draftniks would say after his pro day, that he was ‘buzzing,’ “ general manager Les Snead said. “I think Coach Fish saw that on the plane — we had on the iPad (of Mannion’s workout).
“When you go see it live, you just see a guy that’s tall, quick release — improved his release — and the ball is coming out of his hand. He’s driving it, as Coach Weinke would say, through the receiver with timing.”
Chris Weinke is the Rams’ quarterbacks coach.
What clinched it for the Rams was Mannion’s performance at his private workout, not only on the field but in the classroom. Snead, Fisher, Weinke and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti were all there.
“I felt great about all of it,” Mannion said. “I really felt like I put my best foot forward. Obviously, it feels really good now to see it come to fruition with the Rams.”
When it came to the classroom, the Rams sent information on their offensive scheme for Mannion to study the night before the private workout.
“We talked about it the next day,” Fisher said. “He had it down. He’s exceptionally smart.”
“Granted, it was a fraction of what I’m sure we’ll be getting into here very soon in terms of the playbook,” Mannion said. “But there was a ton of similarities in terms of formations, terminology (to Oregon State).
“The sorts of concepts and patterns and that sort of thing. So I guess to describe it shortly, it kinda feels like nothing is totally brand new to me in terms of what I experienced briefly in my workout with the Rams.”
Mannion’s on-field work in Corvallis was just as good.
“The thing that I was most impressed with was his ability to make every throw,” Fisher said. “The different touches, the deep balls, the shorter throws, and then the footwork. I thought his footwork in the pocket, and getting out of the pocket, was much better than I saw on tape. He had a great pro day, and like we said, he had a great workout for us.”
Mannion, 6-5, 227, has been working on his footwork almost since the end of Oregon State’s 2014 season. One of the criticisms of Mannion by NFL scouts was that he had kind of a long delivery. Better footwork can speed that up, and Mannion went to work with former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer at the EXOS athletic performance center in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego.
“We’ve been working a lot on footwork,” Mannion said at the combine. “That’s something I feel like I can always sharpen up on, really being quick in my drops. No wasted steps.
“Always throwing from a good base, a good platform. I feel like that really carries over into a lot of different areas of playing quarterback. You can improve accuracy. You can get the ball out quicker, and quicken up your release. You can see the field, make your reads a little bit better.”
If all those pre-draft events didn’t provide enough information for the Rams, there were 47 college games (43 starts) and 1,838 throws he made for the Beavers. Mannion, a San Jose native with a degree in liberal studies, is the all-time passing leader in the Pacific-12 Conference with 13,600 yards.
His best season was as a junior in 2013, when he threw for 4,662 yards and 37 touchdowns. To borrow Snead’s words, there would’ve been more “buzz” about him as an NFL quarterback prospect had he turned pro then, when the NFL draft advisory board gave him a Round 3 grade.
But with star wide receiver Brandin Cooks off to the NFL as a first-round pick by New Orleans, and an offensive line limited because of injuries, the 2014 season was much more of a struggle. He threw only 15 TD passes, the Beavers won only five games, and returning to school looked like a big mistake.
As a result, Snead jokingly thought about telling the Rams’ video crew not to include 2014 Oregon State film for Fisher to watch.
“You don’t want that to be your first exposure to the kid, because he had lost a lot of weapons,” Snead said. “And a couple of his really good offensive linemen had gotten injured and missed the season. So he was under duress.”
But when all was said and done, Mannion was selected in the third round in 2015 — just where the advisory board pegged him to go a year earlier. At No. 89 overall, he was selected just one spot behind Rams starter Nick Foles three years earlier by Philadelphia.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_049816b3-70bd-54ef-a178-b9c662266444.html
It’s a tradition of sorts for teams to hand out trinkets to prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine. A hat, a T-shirt, etc.
Turns out the only T-shirt Sean Mannion got back in February in Indianapolis was from the Rams. So maybe this was meant to be.
“You know what?” Mannion said. “This is the only one I need now.”
For sure. When he got the phone call last Friday night from the Rams drafting him in the third round, Mannion dug out that T-shirt and conveniently put it on for a television interview a few minutes later.
“I guess I was just lucky,” Mannion said on a conference call that night. “It was the only NFL team shirt I had, so it must have been quite a coincidence.”
Actually, it was no coincidence at all that Jeff Fisher and the Rams added Mannion at quarterback. The Rams got a long look at him during the pre-draft process, aided by the fact that he made himself available for everything.
He participated in the Senior Bowl in January, did everything but the bench press at the combine (including a formal interview with the Rams), threw at Oregon State’s pro day in March and met with the Rams for a private workout two weeks ago in Corvallis, Ore.
Mannion said he came away from his combine visit with more than that Rams T-shirt.
“Leaving it, I felt really, really good about it,” he said. “I thought I had a really good meeting with them.”
Three weeks later at his pro day, the Rams came away with good feelings about Mannion.
“All the draftniks would say after his pro day, that he was ‘buzzing,’ “ general manager Les Snead said. “I think Coach Fish saw that on the plane — we had on the iPad (of Mannion’s workout).
“When you go see it live, you just see a guy that’s tall, quick release — improved his release — and the ball is coming out of his hand. He’s driving it, as Coach Weinke would say, through the receiver with timing.”
Chris Weinke is the Rams’ quarterbacks coach.
What clinched it for the Rams was Mannion’s performance at his private workout, not only on the field but in the classroom. Snead, Fisher, Weinke and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti were all there.
“I felt great about all of it,” Mannion said. “I really felt like I put my best foot forward. Obviously, it feels really good now to see it come to fruition with the Rams.”
When it came to the classroom, the Rams sent information on their offensive scheme for Mannion to study the night before the private workout.
“We talked about it the next day,” Fisher said. “He had it down. He’s exceptionally smart.”
“Granted, it was a fraction of what I’m sure we’ll be getting into here very soon in terms of the playbook,” Mannion said. “But there was a ton of similarities in terms of formations, terminology (to Oregon State).
“The sorts of concepts and patterns and that sort of thing. So I guess to describe it shortly, it kinda feels like nothing is totally brand new to me in terms of what I experienced briefly in my workout with the Rams.”
Mannion’s on-field work in Corvallis was just as good.
“The thing that I was most impressed with was his ability to make every throw,” Fisher said. “The different touches, the deep balls, the shorter throws, and then the footwork. I thought his footwork in the pocket, and getting out of the pocket, was much better than I saw on tape. He had a great pro day, and like we said, he had a great workout for us.”
Mannion, 6-5, 227, has been working on his footwork almost since the end of Oregon State’s 2014 season. One of the criticisms of Mannion by NFL scouts was that he had kind of a long delivery. Better footwork can speed that up, and Mannion went to work with former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer at the EXOS athletic performance center in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego.
“We’ve been working a lot on footwork,” Mannion said at the combine. “That’s something I feel like I can always sharpen up on, really being quick in my drops. No wasted steps.
“Always throwing from a good base, a good platform. I feel like that really carries over into a lot of different areas of playing quarterback. You can improve accuracy. You can get the ball out quicker, and quicken up your release. You can see the field, make your reads a little bit better.”
If all those pre-draft events didn’t provide enough information for the Rams, there were 47 college games (43 starts) and 1,838 throws he made for the Beavers. Mannion, a San Jose native with a degree in liberal studies, is the all-time passing leader in the Pacific-12 Conference with 13,600 yards.
His best season was as a junior in 2013, when he threw for 4,662 yards and 37 touchdowns. To borrow Snead’s words, there would’ve been more “buzz” about him as an NFL quarterback prospect had he turned pro then, when the NFL draft advisory board gave him a Round 3 grade.
But with star wide receiver Brandin Cooks off to the NFL as a first-round pick by New Orleans, and an offensive line limited because of injuries, the 2014 season was much more of a struggle. He threw only 15 TD passes, the Beavers won only five games, and returning to school looked like a big mistake.
As a result, Snead jokingly thought about telling the Rams’ video crew not to include 2014 Oregon State film for Fisher to watch.
“You don’t want that to be your first exposure to the kid, because he had lost a lot of weapons,” Snead said. “And a couple of his really good offensive linemen had gotten injured and missed the season. So he was under duress.”
But when all was said and done, Mannion was selected in the third round in 2015 — just where the advisory board pegged him to go a year earlier. At No. 89 overall, he was selected just one spot behind Rams starter Nick Foles three years earlier by Philadelphia.
