Seahawks news for Sunday: The return of Bobby Wagner!

In the continuation of a Seahawks offseason that appears to be going perfectly, Bobby Wagner will reportedly sign with Seattle on a one-year deal. Wagner will make a maximum of $7 million, which definitely seems like it would be on the cheaper side of how much he might have been offered by other teams, but the exact details of the contract have yet to be released. As far as Seattle goes, they needed inside linebackers this offseason and now they have added two.

Wagner was outstanding for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. He signed with the Rams after spending his first 10 seasons with the Seahawks. But Los Angeles, in a cost-savings move, released Wagner this offseason so Seattle had the chance to bring him back.

One can never assume anything with the NFL, but it would have felt disappointing if Seattle had not re-signed Wagner. He even changed his Twitter header to the Seattle skyline soon after being released by the Rams. One might have assumed based on the header change that he wanted to return to Seattle and thankfully, he has.

Bobby Wagner returns to the Seattle Seahawks

Seattle lost linebacker Cody Barton in free agency and linebacker Jordyn Brooks hurt his ACL close to the end of 2022 and may not be ready to come back until late in 2023. To replace them, the Seahawks first signed inside linebacker Devin Bush from the Steelers and have now signed Wagner. Arguably, depending on how well Bush plays, Seattle’s linebacker group isn’t just a bit better in 2023 compared to 2022 but a lot better.

In fact, adding Wagner back is just another piece to the puzzle of making Seattle’s defense a lot better next season. The team already signed defensive linemen Dre’Mont Jones and Jarran Reed while also adding sure-tackling safety Julian Love. Poor tackling definitely hurt the Seattle defense last year and nearly every move Seattle has made this offseason should remedy the issue.

But Wagner brings a lot more than just physical ability on the field. He should be able to better communicate what the Seahawks are trying to do on the field by calling the defensive alignments. Wagner will also be a valuable voice in the locker room for an ever-younger Seattle defensive roster. Both Wagner and Bush are on one-year contracts so it is likely that Seattle will draft a linebacker fairly high in the 2023 NFL draft as well. What better way for that linebacker to learn than to play with Bobby Wagner?