Bobby Wagner has injuries he didn’t know he had. He details what Seahawks need to do next
Hours into it, this is already going to be a different offseason for Bobby Wagner.
The All-Pro linebacker and franchise cornerstone got a surprise from the Seahawks’ medical staff on his annual exit examination Monday, the day after the team’s season-ending playoff loss at Green Bay.
The doctor told Wagner he has new injuries to his knee that bothered him in the summer and a sprained ankle he got last month in Seattle’s win at Carolina.
“I’ll be taking care of my body,” Wagner said amid piles of shoes, jerseys and boxes in the locker room at team headquarters Monday afternoon. “There were a lot of stuff going on that I didn’t know about.
“So I’m taking care of myself, health-wise. Having fun, doing the whole family thing, so that will be cool.
“You know, it’s a different offseason than last year. Last year, we had to worry about the contract, and things of that nature. So a little bit more of a free offseason.”
Wagner said the injuries aren’t major. He says he should be fine for the start of his ninth training camp with the Seahawks. That begins in late July.
Coach Pete Carroll said Monday Wagner will not need surgery.
“He found out today that there was something that he didn’t know about. We didn’t even know it was there,” Carroll said. “He had a little test done, I don’t think it is going to require surgery or anything like that. He didn’t even know he was hurt.
“Sometimes that happens.”
This time last year Wagner was entering the final season of his contract. He did not have an agent, and negotiated a three-year, $54 million deal he signed with the Seahawks at the start of training camp in late July. It made him the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL.
Then he led the league again in tackles. He became an All-Pro for the fifth time in his eight seasons since Seattle drafted him in the second round from Utah State in 2012. He was the Seahawks’ 2019 nominee for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award. He will find out at the Super Bowl in Miami at a ceremony the night before the big game early next month if he won that.
He’s really wants to, for his mother. Phenia Wagner died of a heart attack a decade ago, after Wagner’s freshman year at Utah State.
“I feel like it’s something my mom would be proud of,” Wagner said.
Last month Wagner was selected for his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl. But because of Monday’s news he may need surgeries he said he may not play in the all-star game in Orlando, Fla., in two weeks.
Carroll and the Seahawks’ coaching staff will be coaching the NFC team in the Pro Bowl. That’s by virtue of the teams in each conference with the best record that lost in the divisional round of the playoffs. This past weekend that was Seattle and Baltimore; the Ravens’ coaches will lead the AFC team.
Carroll said following Sunday night’s loss to the Packers in which the Seahawks rallied from 18 points down to within a dropped pass by Malik Turner and/or two failed chances by the defense to stop Green Bay on third downs late from advancing to this weekend’s NFC title game that this season’s ending feels like Seattle’s 2012. That season ended with a similar playoff loss: in the division round, on the road, at Atlanta when Seattle came storming back only to lose in overtime.
That was the rookie season for Wagner and for his fellow franchise cornerstone, quarterback Russell Wilson.
“I think guys need to go into the offseason with a chip on their shoulder,” Wagner said. “They have to make sure they feel that loss. Don’t just throw it away. Don’t, you know, mark it off that loss. We (need) to feel that loss all offseason. Feel how close we could have been to going on and potentially facing the 49ers for a third time (in this weekend’s conference title game).
“Need to re-lock at yourself, and myself, in the mirror and see what areas of your game you can improve, see what areas of your game you can better at—and get better at it, before you come back (for spring minicamps and summer training camp).
“And then be relentless about it. Come back better than you were this year.”
