3 biggest upgrades on the Seattle Seahawks in 2023

Seahawks upgraded by bringing back linebacker Bobby Wagner

Goodness, the Seahawks really missed Bobby Wagner in 2022. No offense to Jordyn Brooks. He is an excellent tackler and can run sideline-to-sideline but he is not the communicator pre-snap that Wagner is. While Wagner is a beast of a tackler and can still bring quarterback pressure if asked by the scheme (he had 6 sacks in 2022 with the Los Angeles Rams), where Wagner really excels and Seattle has no replacement for being the defensive QB.

Seattle had lots of communication breakdowns, especially early in the season, defensively. It's almst easy to see the issues as scheme and that maybe Clint Hurtt, in his first year as a defensive coordinator, wasn't ready for the job. What's more likely is what was happening when an offense realigned after the defensive play call came in. Brooks had never been the defensive signal caller and it showed.

There is probably literally nothing that an offense can show that Bobby Wagner hasn't seen. Not only does he have over a decade of experience in the NFL, but he also has a high football IQ. He can sniff out what's about to be run and then get his teammates to react quickly to that. Plus, Wagner can also almost single-handedly stop an offense as well.

Having Wagner back is simply going to upgrade the Seahawks' defense in lots of ways. The defense will be aligned better, be able to re-align much more efficiently, and Wagner is going to scoop up the loose ends. Seattle has better overall talent on the defense in 2023, sure. But even if all the players had remained the same except Wagner, the defense would be better.