SEATTLE — Bobby Wagner's social media post at the outset of Seahawks training camp was blunt and straightforward, yet carried a wallop, just like one of the more than 1,500 tackles in his unparalleled career.
I can not wait to play. So much to prove.
For Wagner, his second act in Seattle began unobtrusively on Thursday in the low-key spectacle that is an NFL preseason game, a 24-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Of course, Wagner didn't actually play, because teams are wisely loathe to risk their veterans in such a meaningless forum; particularly one who has so many banked reps and as much institutional knowledge as the 33-year-old, 12th-year linebacker.
Yet it was still a poignant moment when Wagner burst out of the Lumen Field tunnel for pregame warmups at precisely 6:18 p.m., the last man in the long line of players, perhaps allowing him to savor the moment. And again at 6:56, when he sprinted through the smoke machine, again the last man out just prior to the introduction of starters.
It went almost unnoticed. The crowd was a fraction of a regular-season game, and most of those hadn't yet settled into their seats. It didn't have anything close to the emotional resonance that will be sure to accompany Wagner's appearance on Sept. 10 for the home opener against the Rams — the team for whom he played in a one-year sabbatical from Seattle.
But just seeing the familiar No. 54 jersey once again in Seahawks colors was a stark reminder that the proving process to which Wagner referred in the post is officially under way. His is not a ceremonial return, nor a late-career victory lap, as Ken Griffey Jr.'s second stint with the Mariners often felt. The Seahawks need Wagner to be a force at middle linebacker, to solidify a defense that far too often was gashed by their foes last year, and to provide the leadership that falls upon those with Hall of Fame credentials.
To Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, all that is happening in the confines of the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, and will be revealed to the football world in due time. For now, it is enough to have Wagner's presence in meeting rooms and practice fields — or, on Thursday, roaming the Lumen Field sideline, exhorting teammates after big plays while fully engaged in the predictably sloppy affair. All while wearing the telltale wool cap of the tenured vet, signifying that they will be sitting this one out.
"He's been perfect," Carroll had said a day earlier. "He's done everything. He's busting his butt."
Carroll and Wagner sat down together on Tuesday "and just talked about what's going on in the world," the coach said.
Wagner's perspective will be an invaluable asset for the Seahawks. So will his work ethic. The first highlight Carroll showed his team on Wednesday was Wagner, Quandre Diggs and Uchenna Nwosu chasing the football full speed across the field — three veterans showing full effort in the most mundane of drills, solely to provide the example to young players that that is how it's done.
"He's not going to let anything get in his way," Carroll said of Wagner. "All of the things that you think could be happening are happening in the right way. He is filling in, they are listening to him, he's in charge, he's studying, he's working, the effort is great. He is really setting the standard for us."
Wagner, of course, is the last man standing from the Seahawks' glory years, one Super Bowl ring in hand and a second one having been ripped off his fingers in those agonizing final seconds against the Patriots.
Russell Wilson, drafted on the same day as Wagner in 2012 and traded away on the same fateful day Wagner was released in March 2022, is merely a memory in Seattle (and some would say a distasteful one). Doug Baldwin, Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor, once pillars of the franchise, were in Seattle's training camp this year but in street clothes, long retired. Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril had coaching stints during camp, while the eternal Wagner plays on.
He is seeking career closure, the hard feelings and grudges that colored Wagner's departure last year having long since dissipated. Wagner stresses that this isn't a one-off; he hopes to play multiple years, and last year's performance in the midst of a hugely disappointing year for the Rams — starting all 17 games, playing 99% of the snaps, earning second-team All-Pro honors and designation as the best linebacker in the NFL by Pro Football Focus — shows it's a realistic goal.
So does Wagner's energetic vibe in training camp, during which he's appeared at times even more mobile than he was in his last season here. Unburdened for the first time in a few years by the need to rehab an injury, and not having his season extended by the playoffs, Wagner had a much longer offseason to prepare.
"I'm just trying to be the best version of myself so I can help this team," Wagner said at the outset of camp.
Few players are better at preparing their bodies for the rigors of a season, which is why Wagner has lasted a decade at the most physical position on the field. He still prides himself on being the first guy at the VMAC, setting his alarm for 5:30 a.m. each day.
"You look at a guy like Bobby, he's been successful and consistent for so long, people just think it's easy to get into year 12," longtime teammate Tyler Lockett said. "The way my body feels in year nine, I ask myself, 'How do you even do that?' "
Players who have been around, like Lockett and Quandre Diggs — who broke the story of Wagner's re-signing with Seattle on Twitter, at Wagner's behest — are especially delighted to have him back.
"We missed him," Lockett said. "A lot of the veterans, we missed him. His presence, his conversation, and all that different type of stuff."
Amid the sloppiness and missed tackles on Thursday, typical for an exhibition opener, were a few moments for the Seahawks to savor. A thunderous hit by Coby Bryant that had Wagner greeting him with a high-five on the sideline; a touchdown pass from Drew Lock to Easop Winston Jr. in the second quarter. A 32-yard connection between Lock and Bryant Koback and a 30-yarder to Jake Bobo. A nifty 30-yard scoring strike from a pressured Holton Ahlers to undrafted free agent Matt Landers.
But most of the players who will most impact the Seahawks season, like Wagner, stood on the sidelines in their wool caps, soaking it all in.
Wagner's time will come soon enough, and he vows to be ready, with a cause that is driving him.
So much to prove.
