To Start or Not to Start Sean Mannion?

There has been a lot of talk lately about whether the St. Louis Rams should start their third-round draft pick Sean Mannion the rest of the season. Sitting at 4-7 and trending downward the past month, St. Louis is a far cry from the playoffs. Many fans think the Rams should at least see what they have in Mannion so they can better assess where the team sits at the position.

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Jan 24, 2015; Mobile, AL, USA; North squad quarterback Sean Mannion of Oregon State (4) looks for a receiver against the South squad in the second quarter of the Senior Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports

Mannion played his college ball at Oregon State where he started all four years, finishing with 13,600 yards, 64.6% completion rate, and 84 TD’s.

St. Louis drafted him in the third-round, which I thought was a reach especially with guys like Brett Hundley and Bryce Petty still on the board. The pros for Mannion are that he has NFL size (6’5, 220 lbs), a big arm, a high football IQ, and he played in a pro-style offense in college.

The knocks are him are that he is slow in his progressions, careless with the ball in the pocket (30 fumbles in college), and doesn’t play well when pressured. That last con is especially poignant given the offense Mannion would step into if he were to start.

Starting Mannion with the offense in its current state would leave him exposed to punishment behind a weak offensive line and no established passing attack. For a QB who’s play drops off when pressured, it may not do much good for his confidence going forward.

Having said that, Mannion represents hope for Rams fans as he is a relative unknown. He could be a huge upgrade at the position. The Rams offense has been incredibly tough to watch the past month so any spark starting Mannion would give them would be welcome.

Plus, St. Louis is all but eliminated from playoff contention, why not see what they have at quarterback? With the offseason fast approaching and quarterback looking like a need again, St. Louis desperately needs to assess what Mannion brings to the table prior to the 2016 draft.

This season Mannion has been a developmental project, working on speeding up his delivery and cleaning up his fundamentals. He hadn’t taken a single regular season snap until last week’s game against the Bengals in which he went 5-6 for 31 yards. However, Cincinnati was allowing short yardage given they were up 31-7 so don’t get too excited.

With Foles starting in today’s game against the Cardinals and Mannion inactive, we will have to wait at least another week before we possibly get a glimpse of Mannion. Foles’ performance will have a big impact on who start’s next week.