Bobby Wagner’s sprained knee not serious, no surgery, Seahawks’ Pete Carroll says
A day after teammates said they were praying for Bobby Wagner, those might have been answered.
The Seahawks’ All-Pro linebacker and NFL leader in tackles entering this past weekend has a sprained knee after the team’s win over Detroit, but the injury is relatively minor and will not require surgery, coach Pete Carroll said Monday.
“He sprained his knee,” Carroll told Seattle’s KIRO-AM radio Monday morning. “He got in an awkward situation where he slipped and kind of did the splits, and he was getting pushed on by an offensive lineman at the same time.
“He does not have major damage, at all. He has a sprained kind of kneecap that he’s going to have to recover from, and that will all be about the swelling. He does have a little bit of swelling.”
Carroll said he saw Wagner on Monday morning, “and he’s sore and hobbled a little bit, but it’s not a serious injury”
“As we look at things, it’s not a surgery-required type of injury, and it’ll take him a bit to get back,” Carroll said.
That was the result of MRI exams Wagner had Sunday night.
Though Carroll stopped short of saying it, it’s a logical assumption Wagner will miss the Seahawks’ season finale Sunday at Arizona.
“We’ll see how he responds,” Carroll said Monday morning.
Wagner has missed one game the last six seasons.
Wagner was injured after getting into the Lions’ backfield on Seattle’s first defensive snap Sunday at Lumen Field. He was face down on the turf when Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. came onto the field with the team’s medical staff to attend to their captain.
After a minute or so down, Wagner walked off the field to the bench. A doctor looked at his right knee. Then, during the timeout for his injury, Wagner sprinted off the bench directly into the middle of the field and the defense’s huddle.
Referee Tony Corrente directed Wagner back off the field, because he had to miss one play for the injury time out. Wagner stayed out the rest of Seattle’s first defensive series. The team said he was questionable to return. He never did.
Cody Barton played the final 62 of the 63 defensive snaps Sunday for Wagner.
“You hate to see someone go down, especially Bobby, being our leader, the center and rock of our defense,” Barton said.
Sunday was the most snaps Barton has played in an NFL regular-season game since Seattle drafted him in the third round in 2019 out of Utah. It was more snaps than he’d played the previous 15 games this season. He’s mainly been a special-teams mainstay and spot replacement at outside linebacker, primarily for the now-departed K.J. Wright in the two seasons before this one.
Sunday was his Seahawks debut at middle linebacker, where he played at Utah and says he is most comfortable. The 31-year-old Wagner just hasn’t yielded snaps, let alone games, at that spot.
“Yes, first time. I had a lot of fun,” Barton said. “I just love being out there and playing football and just being with the team and being able to compete out there. It’s awesome.”
Wagner had said before the final home game this season on Sunday that he was pondering his and the Seahawks’ futures after this first 10-loss season for Seattle since 2009. This is just the second time in 10 years the team is not going to the playoffs.
This is Seattle’s first losing season since 2011. That was months before the team drafted Wagner and quarterback Russell Wilson.
Wagner has one season after this one remaining on the $54 million, three-year contract extension he negotiated with the team, without an agent.
The pure dollars of the matter: Wagner’s scheduled charge against the Seahawks’ 2022 salary cap is $20.35 million. Only Wilson’s, at $37 million, is higher among the players under contract for next year. The Seahawks could save $16.6 million against the 2022 salary cap if they released Wagner before June 1 — though that of course would mean they won’t have Bobby Wagner in the middle of their defense anymore.
Given all the losing this season and his high cost next year, Wagner was asked Wednesday: Do you wonder at all whether next season you will be playing for the Seahawks?
“You think about it. You think about what the next year looks like and just, period, what the future holds,” Wagner said, “because this was a season I don’t think we all planned for. We didn’t plan for the season to go this way, so, obviously, there’s going to be some changes.
“Whether or not I’m a part of those changes, I don’t know.”
Wagner got his usual Pro Bowl selection and tackle numbers this season. He re-set his team record with 170 tackles.
But opponents such as the Rams twice (including in a key loss Dec. 21) and the Titans and Vikings in September have produced big plays while specifically targeting him over the middle with passes. Backs as receivers have at times run away from Wagner in the open field.
Seattle has no heirs in place ready to do anything close to what Wagner has done for the last decade in the middle of Seattle’s 4-3 defense. Again, Sunday’s were Barton’s first NFL snaps at middle linebacker. The team drafted Ben Burr-Kirven from the University of Washington in the fifth round in 2019. The middle linebacker has been on injured reserve all season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in an August preseason game. He’s been a special-teams player so far in his Seahawks and NFL career. He’s played just 14 snaps on defense in two seasons.
Undrafted rookie Jon Rhattigan is a middle linebacker. He’s played on special teams; he didn’t play a snap for Wagner on defense this season. Rhattigan went on injured reserve this past weekend. He has damage to the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 12:11 PM.
