It will go down as a franchise-altering day for the Seattle Seahawks.
The Seahawks are releasing eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker Bobby Wagner after a decade with the team, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Tuesday night. The team confirmed the news Wednesday afternoon.
Initial news of Wagner's release came hours after it was reported that the Seahawks agreed to trade franchise quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.
Wagner and Wilson joined the Seahawks in the 2012 NFL Draft, taken in the second and third round, respectively. A season later they helped Seattle to its first and only Super Bowl championship. During their time in Seattle, the two helped the team to a pair of conference titles and four NFC West crowns. Alas, Tuesday marks an emphatic separation from the Seahawks' glory days, as Wagner and Wilson were the last two players on the roster from their Super Bowl XLVIII triumph.
Over 10 stellar campaigns in the middle of coach Pete Carroll's defense, Wagner earned six All-Pro nods as he astoundingly tallied more than 100 tackles in each and every season with the Seahawks.
Twice (2016 and 2019) he led the NFL in tackles and last season he compiled a career-high 170, but just as Wagner's emergence with Seattle signaled a new period in franchise history, so too will his departure mark another monumental change in club chronicle.
Wagner's release saves the new-look Seahawks $16.6 million in salary-cap space. It likewise sends Wagner into free agency, with his release allowing him to sign with a team prior to the start of the new league year on March 16.
The 31-year-old is likely to be a highly coveted. While his prime days are likely left in Seattle, he'll still be viewed as an improvement for most teams looking for an off-ball linebacker.
What's next for Wagner could be decided in the coming days. What was for Wagner will be celebrated for years to come in the Emerald City.
Nonetheless, Tuesday will be remembered as a day that forever changed the Seahawks.
It began with with the NFL world being rocked by news that Wilson was being traded to the Broncos and as day turned to night, Wagner, the standard at the center of the Seahawks defense for a decade, was released and an era was ended.
