Perhaps you can go home again in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said that he and head coach Pete Carroll have been in contact with eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker and ex-Hawk Bobby Wagner.
“We’ve been able to talk to Bobby now and address some of those things, so it’s worked out great,” Schneider said in his weekly interview with Seattle Sports 710 AM. “We’re gonna be in communication as we go along throughout free agency now.”
Wagner spent a decade with the Seahawks from 2012-2021, but played the 2022 season with the Los Angeles Rams. Though an impressive 140-tackle campaign was had by Wagner, he will officially become a free agent on March 15 after the Rams parted ways with the off-ball backer in a move to free up salary cap space.
Though Schneider didn’t specify when exactly it was that he and Carroll spoke to Wagner, it happened roughly a year removed from Seattle releasing Wagner.
Wagner previously starred with the Seahawks for 10 fruitful seasons, helping the club to a Super Bowl and earning six All-Pro selections.
Could he potentially re-join the Seahawks?
Seattle has $30.53 million in cap space and has a need at linebacker. Cody Barton, who started 11 games last season for Seattle, is bound for free agency and former first-rounder Jordyn Brooks is recovering from an ACL tear late in the season that could hold him back from the start of the 2023 campaign.
The 32-year-old Wagner has produced 100 tackles in 11 straight seasons to start his celebrated career. Already one of the greatest Seahawks of all time, perhaps a reunion in Seattle is in store.
“We have been able to [talk to him] now, so [Carroll] and I were able to talk to him the other day, and we had a great, awesome, frank conversation, so he knows where we are, and we know where he’s at,” Schneider said. “We have so much respect for him personally and professionally, so we were able to talk through some things and yeah, we know where it’s going.”