Over the past few years, we’ve seen Glen Powell become one of our fastest rising movie stars, and his work in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick with Tom Cruise really catapulted him to a new level. Not only will the latter part of the 2025 movie schedule see him continue his leading man streak with The Running Man, but fans will also be treated to his new college football comedy, Chad Powers, when the fall 2025 TV premieres begin to hit the small screen. Unfortunately, co-producer Eli Manning wasn’t thrilled with his throwing skills, so Powell got a Patrick Mahomes-adjacent assist to study up.
What Did Eli Manning Say About Glen Powell’s Chad Powers Throw And How Does Patrick Mahomes Factor In?
Chad Powers is actually a continuation of the character created by Eli Manning for an episode of his ESPN+ show, Eli’s Places, in 2022. The former NFL star and his brother, Peyton Manning, co-produced Powers, which is why they both had a vested interest in making sure that details like Glen Powell’s football snapping skills were up to par.
This will be especially important because the Twisters star’s upcoming series (which is already weathering comparisons to Ted Lasso) will see him portray a disgraced college football quarterback who takes on a new identity to get back in the game. While speaking about the show in a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Manning told Powell:
I saw you throwing in Top Gun and wasn’t all that impressed.
Ouch! To be fair, the Maverick scene in question is, of course, the famed beach-set “dogfight football” scene from the hit movie, which the Anyone But You actor admitted was more about as much of the cast as possible showing off their gleaming muscles than displaying any true athletic prowess. What’s that you say? You don’t remember the scene? Well, we can help with that:
I don’t know, man. Looks like some A++ football talent is on that beach to me, but I suppose I can defer to Manning’s pro-level knowledge. The Mannings saw footage of Powell getting his quarterback on, and were immediately aware that if anyone who’s in the know watched his repeated attempts at throwing the pigskin around (he was holding the ball wrong), a high level of authenticity for the series would go right down the drain.
What’s a pretend football star to do? Practice his fashionable, Hit Man-starring butt off, of course, and this is where Patrick Mahomes comes in…sort of. Seeing as how Powell had to really look like a guy who’d been a talented college football player, the producers hired the man who helps the Kansas City Chiefs star excel at quarterbacking, his personal coach, Nic Shimonek. Luckily, the training worked, and Manning can now admit that Powell “throws it well,” and added:
That’s why he’s such a star, he works on all those little things to make it authentic, to make it look good, to work.
I’m even more excited to see how the comedy has turned out, and we only have a few weeks to wait before we can all watch it for ourselves.
