Wagner, Seahawks agree on $54 million extension
Linebacker Bobby Wagner and the Seahawks agreed on a 3-year, $54 million contract extension Friday, making the five-time Pro Bowler the highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL.
“I’m really excited to have this done, excited that I get to be a Seahawk for a long, long time,” Wagner said on the team website. “Like I’ve always said, I want to play my entire career here, and I feel like today is a step toward that.”
Wagner has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past five seasons and been named First-Team All-Pro in four of them. His 916 total tackles since he was drafted in 2012 is second behind only Luke Kuechly in that span. He’s surpassed 100 total tackles in every year of his career and led the team in five of his seven seasons thus far in Seattle.
“He exemplifies everything that we’re all about, his professionalism, intensity, the way he handles himself off the field,” John Schneider said on the team website. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll go down not only as one of the greatest Seahawks, but also as one of the greatest middle linebackers in NFL history.
“It’s a major deal for our organization moving into the future.”
Along with Russell Wilson’s 4-year, $160 million contract, signed in April, the Seahawks have their leaders on both sides of the ball paid into the 2020s.
“Those are two pillars that we want to build a young football team around,” Schneider said. “That was a primary goal for us as we entered the offseason.”
Wagner came to the first day of training camp on Thursday wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. Friday morning, he came out in a jersey and helmet, but stayed on the sidelines during drills.
On Thursday, head coach Pete Carroll hinted that a deal seemed imminent.
“We’ve been working with Bobby for some time,” Carroll said about negotiations with Wagner on a contract extension that would make the 29-year-old centerpiece to Seattle’s defense the NFL’s highest-paid inside linebacker into the 2020s.
“There’s been a lot of conversations, a lot of stuff going on...But we’re working with him to, hopefully, make a really good decision, both ends of it. We love him. He’s been a great player, a great guy in the program. We respect the heck out of him.”
Fellow linebacker K.J. Wright, who followed Carroll at the podium Thursday, said giving Wagner the deal he wanted was “a no-brainer.”
After Friday’s practice, Russell Wilson said Wagner “deserves to be the highest-paid linebacker” and that he was pretty sure Wagner “will get taken care of.”
Just a few hours later, that became the case.
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 5:44 PM.