Ranking the five most important Seattle Seahawks heading into 2023

Number 2 - Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner

I am not psyched Bobby Wagner is back with the Seattle Seahawks. Did I think Seattle had to do something about Wagner's contract in the 2022 offseason before he left and signed with the Los Angeles Rams? Absolutely. But that had nothing to do with Wagner the player and more about the $20 million cap hit he had entering last year.

I wish Seattle had gone to Bobby Wagner and reworked his deal. They didn't. And it appears that Seattle didn't contact Wagner at all until after it was reported on social media that he had been released. Wagner is a better person than I am because I would have had some hard feelings about basically being fired that way, but then he decided coming back to the Seahawks this offseason was an OK thing to do.

And no offense to linebacker Jordyn Brooks, but Seattle massively missed Wagner's ability to comminicate on the field last season. Seattle seemed to miss a lot of assignments, especially very early in 2022. Brooks didn't truly seem ready to take Wagner's role of not only being an excellent tackler, but also being a verbal leader.

Wagner should improve the Seahawks defense in 2023 simply from a skillset alone, but he will also make sure the defense is set better before the ball is snapped by the opposing offense. A half-second faster reaction from the defense helps in pass defense but especially helps against the run as a team can get aligned more quickly for whichever run play is developing in front of them.