3 Seattle Seahawks that should be held out of playing in the preseason

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner

Why does Bobby Wagner need to play right now? Maybe the argument is that he wasn't playing when Clint Hurtt was the defensive coordinator and he needs a few reps against another team to get used to communicating the defense alignments before the real games begin. This shouldn't be a problem, however, as players get enough of that kind of practice in training camp.

Plus, it's not like opposing teams are going to show some weird scheme in the preseason where Seattle would have to adjust. Schemes in the preseason are extremely vanilla as the team that wins or loses doesn't really matter. (And yes, I want the Seahawks to win every game and it feels weird to even lose a preseason game. That's where the term "fan" comes in; There's no logical reason for me to care whether Seattle is victorious in a glorified scrimmage but still I do.)

There is nothing another team can show Wagner even in a real game at this point in his career that he hasn't seen before, however. And there is nothing that he doesn't know about the Seahawks defense currently where he wouldn't know how to readjust to what an opposing offense is attempting to do against Seattle.

Plus, the Seahawks will likely rest many of the presumed defensive starters in the preseason. Why have Wagner call out alignments to players who he mostly won't be playing with during the regular season? Plus, Wagner needs to be fully healthy for real games. Any punishment he might take in the preseason doesn't help him or the team.