Lavonte David spent 14 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was named First- or Second-Team All-Pro three times, made a Pro Bowl, and got to choose the time when he retired with the only team he ever played for. Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner won't get to do that.
Wagner deserves better, but the NFL is a tough business. The Bucs never made the financial decisions that Seattle made. Tampa Bay kept bringing David back every year, for better or worse, and Seattle allowed Wagner to leave twice. Ideally, Wagner would have signed his rookie deal with the Seahawks and never left.
Both linebackers had great careers, of course, and each won a Super Bowl. They were stalwarts of fantastic defenses (at times) and made their locker rooms better with their humanity. Long after their careers are done, they will be fondly remembered.
Seattle Seahawks legend won't have the same choice Lavonte David had with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Still, David got to go out in a way players dream of. He never had to leave his first team. He never had to learn how and where to live in a new city. Tampa Bay was his home for as long as he wanted it to be, and no one will ever have to ask, "What season did Lavonte David play for...?" The team name was always the same for him.
Between Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David, one is a sure first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, and it isn't David. The Bucs linebacker might make it into the Hall eventually, but Wagner was historically great. After he left Seattle the first time, which was in 2021, he made Second-Team All-Pro with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.
Wagner returned to the Seahawks in 2023 and once again was named Second-Team All-Pro. He couldn't stop being great. Unfortunately, he left Seattle again after just one season. As opposed to the first time when he was a cap casualty, he simply didn't project to be a good fit in new head coach Mike Macdonald's scheme.
Macdonald is still the head coach with the Seattle Seahawks, of course, and he isn't going anywhere anytime soon, hopefully, but that means Wagner isn't going to be re-signed in free agency. He will have to find yet another team to call home unless he re-signs with the Rams or the Washington Commanders, where he has been for two of the last two seasons.
Bobby Wagner could be facing forced retirement, and no Seattle fan wants that for him. He should have been able to go out like Lavonte David did, by choosing his own time to say goodbye and with the team that drafted him.