Another day, another top-shelf young cornerstone signed by the Seattle Seahawks.
A little more than 36 hours after the team locked up Russell Wilson, the Seahawks signed middle linebacker Bobby Wagner to a four-year contract extension, the team announced Sunday. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported the extension is for $43 million, with $22 million in guarantees.
Wagner has been one of the best players at his position since he entered the league in 2012 as a second-round pick out of Utah State. He's coming off his best season in 2014, even though he missed five games. While Wagner's MVP vote was wacky, we can see why Tony Dungy got carried away when he voted for Wagner.
His speed, instincts and aggression stopping the run is rare. He's a big asset on passing downs, and was all over the field during the team's crushing Super Bowl loss. If we were ranking irreplaceable Seahawks defenders, Wagner could be No. 2 behind Earl Thomas. His contract reflects that.
The symmetry of Wagner signing the next day after Wilson is hard to miss. While Wilson is the leader of the offense, Wagner makes all the defensive calls. His return to the field last year from injury directly coincided with the Seahawks defense surging.
The move should just about wrap up a productive offseason for Seattle. As we wrote Friday evening, the core talent assembled by general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll is insane: Wilson, Wagner, Jimmy Graham, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Marshawn Lynch are all signed through at least 2017.
The Seahawks have been one of the top teams in the league for three seasons running, a stretch of consistency at the highest level that we haven't seen often this century without Tom Brady or Peyton Manning involved. After this flurry of contract extensions, Seattle is set up to remain that good until after Brady and Manning have finally said goodbye.
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