Tag: Bobby Wagner

Commanders to sign All-Pro LB Bobby Wagner

The Commanders are signing All-Pro LB Bobby Wagner to a one-year deal.

The Washington Commanders are signing former Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

It’s a one-year deal worth a max value of $8.5 million for Wagner, including $6 million in guarantees.

Wagner, a former second-round pick by the Seahawks in 2012, is a six-time First-Team All-Pro, nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion during his 11-year tenure with Seattle.

Wagner is reunited with new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn, as the pair previously worked together in Seattle a decade ago.

Former Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner is signing with the Washington Commanders

Former Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner is signing with the Washington Commanders

For the third time in his career, future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner has found a new NFL home. Breaking news came Wednesday afternoon announcing Wagner is headed east to the “other” Washington to sign a one-year deal with the Commanders. For the second time in three seasons, Wagner and the Seattle Seahawks are moving in different directions.

The Seahawks parted ways with Wagner prior to the 2022 season, where he spent one season with the Los Angeles Rams. Seattle brought Wagner “back home” during the 2023 offseason after he was released by the Rams. However, it appears the reunion tour was short lived.

Wagner will be reunited with his former defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, who is now the new head coach for the Commanders.

The 2023 campaign was a career-year for Wagner, who set a personal-best with 183 tackles to lead the NFL for the third time in his career. Wagner clearly proved he had more than enough gas left in the tank, and his intentions at the end of the season was that he was going to play in 2024. Now it seems he will do so in burgundy and gold.

With Wagner headed to the Commanders, and Jordyn Brooks going to the Miami Dolphins, the Seahawks have a major question they need to answer: what are they going to do at linebacker now? One of the top free agents, former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, opted to jump ship to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Whether the Seahawks were interested or not, Queen will not be following his former defensive coordinator in Mike Macdonald to the Pacific Northwest.

Wagner moving on from Seattle this offseason felt inevitable, as the Seahawks are retooling and getting younger. Still, seeing one the greatest players in franchise history – and the NFL as a whole since 2012 – leave again does sting a bit.

The 12th Man will surely be thankful they got to see Wagner for one last year in a Seahawks uniform, including the beloved throwbacks. I’m also sure they’re breathing a collective sigh of relief that he isn’t going to another division rival this time around.

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Might a 9-time Pro Bowler be an option for the Commanders?

Bobby Wagner isn’t returning to Seattle, making the Commanders a possibility for the future Hall of Famer.

News broke Sunday that a 9-time Pro Bowler and 6-time All-Pro linebacker is not returning to his team.

Bobby Wagner is reportedly going to test the free agent market, not returning to his longtime NFL home, the Seattle Seahawks. Wagner played one season with the Rams, and his other 11 NFL seasons were spent in Seattle.

Wagner is now an age-33 linebacker. Consequently, this Washington ownership group would wisely not invest in a long-term deal with a veteran such as Wagner. However, one can imagine the Commanders pursuing Wagner for a short-term reunion.

That is, a reunion with new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and new linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. Wagner played for Quinn while Quinn served as the Seahawks defensive coordinator in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Norton coached the linebackers during the 2010-2014 seasons. Following his three seasons as the Raiders defensive coordinator, Norton returned to the Seahawks as their defensive coordinator for the 2018-2021 seasons, all of which saw Wagner earn Pro Bowl honors with Seattle.

It is no secret the Commanders have been weak at linebacker and signing Wagner for the short-term could provide the defense leadership and also a younger, drafted linebacker a mentor as well.

Should the Commanders choose to pursue a younger linebacker, such as the Ravens’ Patrick Queen, they would attempt to sign him on a longer-term deal, seeing that Queen will only turn 25 in August.

Bobby Wagner expected to hit free agency, unlikely to return to Seahawks

Wagner will become a free agent when the new league year begins and it’s considered unlikely that he will return to Seattle.

According to Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner will become a free agent when the new league year begins and it’s considered unlikely that he will return to Seattle.

Wagner is coming off a 183-tackle season, the third time he has led the league in tackles in his career. However, Wagner is also 33 years old and the Seahawks are going in a younger direction. He has played 185 games in the NFL, made nine Pro Bowl teams and has six All-Pro nominations. While he has nothing left to prove, in interviews after the 2023 season ended, Wagner made it clear he intends to continue playing.

This past season Wagner gave Seattle a hometown discount, signing a one-year, $5.5 million deal. On the open market he should be able to earn more than that after another Pro Bowl season.

Potential replacements for Wagner in free agency include Patrick Queen, Eric Kendricks and D’Vondre Campbell, who was just released by the Packers and had done great work under the Seahawks’ new linebackers coach.

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CBS Sports predicts Commanders to land Ravens star LB Patrick Queen

Queen would give the Commanders something they’ve lacked for years.

The Washington Commanders have a significant need at linebacker. Under former head coach Ron Rivera, the franchise often avoided spending any significant assets at linebacker outside of picking Jamin Davis in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

That’s not going to happen under new GM Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.

With Davis penciled in at outside linebacker, the Commanders badly need a true inside linebacker. The good news for Washington is that there are some options in free agency. Patrick Queen is the top option. Devin White, a former top-five draft pick coming off a down season, is also an option. There is the ageless Bobby Wagner, who has ties to Dan Quinn and linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr.

There are others, too.

How much money does Peters want to commit to filling this position?

Garrett Podell of CBS Sports recently previewed Queen’s free agency, looking at four legitimate options for him, three of which were NFC East teams.

Here’s what Podell said about Washington:

Washington possesses $91.5 million in cap space this offseason, the most in the entire league according to OverTheCap.com. New head coach Dan Quinn presided over a defensive transformation of the Dallas Cowboys defense as their defensive coordinator that led to two corners, Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, leading the NFL in interceptions and earning All-Pro nods in his three seasons down in Texas. However, Quinn certainly realized the importance of having a strong inside linebacker to negate a team’s run game after the way Aaron Jones brutalized his defense in the NFC wild-card round.

The Commanders have significant needs on defense since they profiled as the lowest-ranked team in scoring defense (30.5 points per game), total defense (388.9 total yards per game), passing touchdowns (39) and passer rating (105.7). Queen wouldn’t have to move very far in relocating closer to the nation’s capital.

Those are compelling reasons for the Commanders to spend the required $20 million or more annually to sign Queen. He’s young (Queen doesn’t turn 25 until August) and has improved in each of his past two seasons. Queen is an ascending player who could be a defensive linchpin in Washington for years to come.

So, who does Podell see Queen signing with?

The Commanders.

Queen takes the money and runs down the road to the Commanders to play for Quinn. Many of his Cowboys players lauded their professional and personal growth with Quinn calling defensive plays, which is a legitimate draw for free agents also looking to get paid. Queen is the first of many dominoes set to fall in Washington’s rebuild under a new regime this offseason.

Queen would thrive in Quinn’s and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt’s defense. If Washington splurged to sign Queen, it would be a smart move. His age, production and ceiling are in line with what Peters envisions using free agency for.

Bruce Irvin reacts to KJ Wright joining 49ers coaching staff: ‘Terrible!’

Bruce Irvin reacts to KJ Wright joining 49ers coaching staff: ‘Terrible!’

Over the weekend, the 12th Man was treated to news that did not seem to please anyone. Former Seattle Seahawks great and founding member of the Legion of Boom, K.J. Wright, is joining the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff. The rivalry between the Seahawks and 49ers is as deep as it gets in this league when it comes to pure hate between teams and fanbases.

It turns out the hate still lingers among former players as well, especially for other Legion of Boomers. Fellow linebacker and pass rush specialist Bruce Irvin took to Twitter to react to the news of his former teammate joining San Francisco in a now-deleted tweet.

Of course, it is hard to imagine Irvin is truly angry at his former teammate. Objectively it is a great opportunity for Wright if he wants to get into coaching. That being said, it is also hard to disagree with Irvin’s sentiments.

The 49ers are easily Seattle’s biggest rival, and any game between them and the Seahawks from 2012-2014 was practically a clash of the Titans. Wright and Irvin were involved in plenty of games that made life miserable for those playing for San Francisco.

Seeing Wright in the red and gold will be a tough sight for 12’s.

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Bobby Wagner highlights from the 2023 season

At age 33, Wagner was back to his usual self.

After one season away from the Emerald City, linebacker Bobby Wagner returned to the Seattle Seahawks for the 2023 campaign. The nine-time Pro Bowler and six-time All Pro added one more to each category this past season when he dominated the middle of defenses.

The Seahawks’ defense was not great by any stretch of the imagination last year, but that was hardly due to the efforts of Bobby Wagner. At age 33, Wagner was back to his usual self. He once again led the league in total tackles at 183 – which is also a career-best mark for him.

With this in mind, let us go back and rewatch his highlights from the 2023 season. They can be seen here or below:

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Here is the team’s updated roster and depth chart as we approach the new league year and free agency beginning in two weeks. Players whose names are highlighted in green are about to become unrestricted free agents. Players with their names in orange will become restricted free agents and players in red are exclusive rights free agents.

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Let’s see if we can guess where they’re headed. Here are our predictions for 10 Seahawks free agents and where they will end up signing.

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“Uce” leads the way for this year’s free-agent linebackers.

As they do with pass rusher Brian Burns, the Carolina Panthers have another top defender ready to hit the open market in linebacker Frankie Luvu. And also like Burns, “Uce” may be sticking around for 2024.

But until we find that out, here’s Luvu and the very best of his free-agent contemporaries: