Why Bobby Wagner is returning to the Seattle Seahawks
With Bobby Wagner’s one-year stop with the Los Angeles Rams in the rearview mirror, the focus is on the future for the star Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker in his return to the franchise.
Wagner spoke with local media on Wednesday — he rejoined the team where he’s played 10 of his 11 seasons nearly two weeks ago, signing a reported one-year contract with Seattle.
The Rams, after signing him to a five-year, $50 million contract last offseason, released him in March in a move to save $16.6 million against the salary cap, according to The Seattle Times.
That opened that window for Wagner to rejoin the organization where the former Utah State star became one of the game’s top middle linebackers.
Why is Bobby Wagner returning to Seattle?
Wagner, a Los Angeles native, was a six-time first-team All-Pro and a Super Bowl winner with more than 1,400 tackles and 23.5 sacks over his first 10 NFL seasons with the Seahawks. He twice led the NFL in tackles in a single season.
During his one year with the Rams, Wagner had another standout season. He had 140 tackles, a single-season career-best six sacks, 10 tackles for loss and two interceptions — all while earning his third career second-team All-Pro honor.
“I never really wanted to leave in the first place,” he said of going from Seattle to Los Angeles last season, per the team’s website. “Obviously, business happened, and I had an opportunity to go play in the city I grew up in, and so I thought that was cool. And then I want to come back to the city I kind of matured in.
“For me, it was cool to be able to make that happen. Me being able to represent myself, I always thought it was cool when you had those agents out there that were able to get the player what he wanted, so I wanted to be home, and this was another home of mine, and I wanted to be back.”
Does Bobby Wagner want to finish his career in Seattle?
The 32-year-old Wagner — who was a staple of the Seahawks’ vaunted Legion of Boom defense — said he plans on playing beyond the 2023 season and would like to end his career in Seattle.
“If I had my way, yes,” Wagner said, per the team. “I hope to play longer than this, but I think we’re at that point where you take it a year at a time.”
It was a welcome reunion for Wagner being back with the franchise where he’s built a Hall of Fame resume.
“Just being able to come into the building has been cool,” Wagner said. “Honestly, things didn’t end that great, and I don’t live that far from the building, so I would drive and not have too many nice things to say about the building, until this happened. So it’s good to be back in this place.”
Did Bobby Wagner have offers from other NFL teams?
Wagner returned to the Seahawks on a one-year contract worth $5.5 million, according to ESPN. That included $4.48 million guaranteed and an additional $1.5 million that could be earned through incentives.
Wagner, who serves as his own agent, confirmed to reporters that other teams offered him more money, according to The Seattle Times. Getting back to Seattle, though, was a priority.
“Just letting them know where I was at in the process,” Wagner said of what kick-started his discussions with the Seahawks, per The Seattle Times. “Then they let me know where they were at in the process. There was mutual interest in wanting to come back. And so that’s really all I wanted to know, whether or not that it was even an option to come back. And kind of once I knew was it an option, we just started to see if it makes sense.”
Former Seattle teammate Richard Sherman, in talking with Seattle radio station KJR on Wednesday, said he hoped Seahawks general manager John Schneider wouldn’t mess up bringing back Wagner and called it a lowball offer that the GM offered the Seahawks’ all-time leading tackler.
“I was hoping that John didn’t mess it up, and he didn’t,” Sherman said, per The Seattle Times. “He tried. He tried on multiple occasions.”
Asked for further details, Sherman elaborated: “Just lowballing a guy. There’s a difference between lowballing and being disrespectful, and they got borderline disrespectful. Thankfully, Bobby really wanted to be with the Seahawks, and he really wanted to come back home. Because other people offered him more money.”
Seattle is one of the NFL’s teams with the lowest amount of salary cap space right now, according to Spotrac, with $7.1 million in space currently. That’s 25th among the league’s 32 teams.
