Since the Seahawks are releasing Wagner now and not in the off-season, he could be in talks with other teams right now before the start of a new league year next week, giving him a head start as a free agent.
Joining the Seahawks on the same day as Russell Wilson (the two were drafted less than two hours apart in an unforgettable 2012 draft class), Wagner went on to record at least 100 tackles each season for a decade, setting a franchise record. . 1381. He also held the team’s single season record with 167 in 2016, surpassing him in total last season with 170 in 15 games, only to have teammate Jordyn Brooks pass him with 183 after Wagner missed everything except for one draw in the last two games due to a knee injury. The injury ended a remarkable streak of resilience for a player in one of the most physical positions in the game, with Wagner starting 110 of 112 games from the start of the 2016 season until the injury in week 17 of last season. Wagner’s 150 career starts with the Seahawks rank 10th in franchise history.
“What I like to look at great players is, do they show that ability year after year, year after year?” Carroll once said when talking about Wagner. “I think that’s where greatness lies. Bobby put together a summary of what is really in the Hall of Fame. This is the type of guy who will ever get there. he is brought in on a regular basis – indeed he has been the perfect Seahawks for the entire time he has been here.”
With Wagner at the center of Seattle’s defense, the Seahawks had one of the best defensive seasons in NFL history in 2013, leading the league in defensive scoring, total defense, passing defense, and clearance before continuing to dominate the highest-scoring offense in NFL history. . in Seattle’s 43-8 win over the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. And from 2012 to 2015, the Seahawks defense led the NFL in defensive scoring for four consecutive seasons, making them the only team in the Super Bowl era to achieve such a feat.
Wagner has also made his mark on society, both in Seattle and in his hometown of Ontario, California, often choosing to do so quietly behind the scenes. He won the 2017 Steve Larget Team Award and was nominated for the 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. And while Wagner was never in the spotlight, he also acknowledged it as an NFL star player. , he has a platform, and in recent years he has made efforts to use it for good, whether it be supporting historically black colleges and universities or using his weekly press conferences to encourage those who listen, to support and inspire women in their life, or to take part in random good deeds, or to support local businesses, or simply to borrow a book that he found useful in his life.