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A New Bobby Wagner Contract – Can The Seahawks Afford It?

By Dan Viens

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Listen long enough to any of our local sports-talk radio stations and eventually they’ll get around to talking about Wagner’s impending new deal.

Listen a little longer, and you’ll get callers hoping for a “hometown discount,” or even implying that Wagner is somehow not “worth as much” as the other top MLB’s.

Wrong, and wrong.

Did Richard Sherman take less than market value in his second Seahawk deal?

Did Earl?  Or Beast Mode?

Wagner won’t either.

The Plan includes Wagner, there’s no doubt.  Recently, GM John Schneider talked about the biggest challenge in getting all the core players locked up being “fitting the puzzle pieces together.”  He’s talking about salary structure, not average annual value.  Wagner and his agent can, and will, ask to be included on the list we looked at.

But for many, the question isn’t will he get it, but should he?

Surely the Seahawks can’t keep all their good young players, can they?

Say what you want about all the big salaries handed out to Seattle defenders already, or how the salary cap is unevenly divided between offense and defense.  Wagner has proven himself in two distinct ways:

  1. He embodies the profile of typical Schneider/Pete Carroll draft pick.  Lesser-known, away from the limelight, overlooked, with unique skills and a chip on his shoulder.  In Wagner’s case he was deemed slightly too small by some, and many teams were unsure whether he profiled more as a Mike, or an OLB in the NFL.
  2. The Seahawks themselves may not have known how good he would become, and I suspect he’s outplayed even their expectations.  In fact, he may not have been viewed as a crucial part of The Plan originally, but there’s no question he’s played his way into it.

The difference was obvious last year.  While missing 5 games with that toe injury in 2014, Wagner’s return to the starting lineup against Arizona Week 12 solidified the run defense and spurred the Seahawks late season surge.  Once Wagner was back, the Hawks went 6-0.  The defense gave up 6.5 points a game. His impact was obvious.

The answer is clear:  The Seahawks simply have to lock Wagner up through his peak years.

So what’s the hold up?  This is where it gets complicated.  Maybe it’s as simple as getting Russell Wilson’s deal done first, or maybe everyone is waiting on fellow 2012 draftee Luke Kuechly (9th overall pick) to resign with the Panthers.  Whatever the delay, my suspicion is the basic parameters of a deal have already been outlined, and possibly agreed to.  The devil is in the details, and in this case the structure will be vital.  It may need to involve a high degree of guaranteed money in exchange for a more workable cap number. My guess is it will be similar to the Sherman/Thomas deals; surprisingly short-term (4 years tacked onto final year of current deal), offering the player another crack at free agency while in his prime.

Wagner is only 24 years old still. Let that sink in.  He may not spend his entire career as a Seahawk, but he’s not going anywhere anytime soon……..  except into a much higher tax bracket.

Next: Will Christin Michael ever get his chance to shine in Seattle?

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