After an illustrious career with the Seattle Seahawks, Bobby Wagner suddenly found himself on the free agent market after the only team he had ever played with up until that point released him.
The Seahawks signaled a rebuild when they traded away superstar quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, which made Wagner no longer a part of their long-term vision. The star linebacker did not remain available for long, however, as he found his way home with the Los Angeles Rams.
When reflecting on his decision to join the Rams and come back to his hometown of Southern California, Wagner also admitted he’s looking forward to showing the Seahawks they made the wrong decision, via Bob Condotta of Seattle Times:
“Obviously there are still feelings there (about being released),” he said. “But at the end of the day I have a different perspective. I think my opinion on it would have been different if I ended up somewhere else. But to have the opportunity to go home and play not far from my family. Like I haven’t played this close to my family since high school (Colony High in Ontario, California).
“… I didn’t want to leave Seattle. But if I was going to leave Seattle, home was the next-best thing for me and so being able to be home, like I’m at peace with the situation. But still any competitor is looking forward to going back to the place that you played that they felt like you didn’t have nothing left and proving them wrong.”
The veteran has already said he’s going to be looking to make the Seahawks aware of where he is on the field when the two teams meet during the 2022 season, and these recent comments only reinforce that notion. Wagner adds another dimension to L.A.’s defense that had been previously missing and it’ll be exciting to see what he can do once the new year kicks off.
