Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson were teammates for 10 seasons in Seattle, coming into the NFL together with the Seahawks in 2012 as second- and third-round picks, respectively. But during their decade together in the Pacific Northwest, Wagner never got the chance to hit Wilson.
As a quarterback, Wilson always wore the red no-contact jersey in practice, putting him completely off-limits for defenders. But when the Rams and Broncos square off in Week 16, Wilson will be wearing a blue, orange and white jersey, making him fair game for Wagner.
The Rams linebacker said he’ll be looking to bring down Wilson later this season after the two exchanged plenty of trash talk over the years.
“I’m definitely gonna try to hit em, you know what I mean?” Wagner said with a smile in an interview with J.B. Long and Maurice Jones-Drew. “We’ve had a lot of trash talk over the years of what would happen if we ever collided or things of that nature. But obviously, he’s always had the red jersey, so you know, you touch him, you get cut. Now, we ain’t gotta worry about getting cut no more.”
There’s no malice behind Wagner’s words, but you can tell he wants to lay a shot on his former quarterback after practicing against him for 10 years without being able to tackle him. Wilson will be trying to avoid not only Wagner that afternoon, but also Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Ernest Jones.
It should be one of the marquee games of the season, so long as Denver’s complete rebuild works out the way the team hopes it will.