Many former Seattle Seahawks stars have left the team recently and then found it difficult to be as successful with new teams. Quarterback Russell Wilson is a prime example. He is the best QB in team history, but is not on his third team in three seasons.
The number of former Seattle players who have struggled after leaving the Pacific Northwest might not grow much in 2025. While veteran receiver Tyler Lockett might have aged out of being great, receiver DK Metcalf and quarterback Geno Smith might do quite well with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively.
Another former Seattle icon is doing quite well with his new team, though. Future Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner left Seattle after the 2023 season, joined the Washington Commanders, and was named Second-Team All-Pro for his play in 2024.
Former Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner among bargain-basement steals in the NFL
That marked the 11th-straight season that Wagner was a First- or Second-Team All-Pro. He is arguably the best linebacker of his generation.
According to CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin, Wagner is also relatively underpaid for the work he is doing for the Commanders. The odd part is that Wagner has been relatively underpaid for four straight seasons. Seattle let him walk in free agency once before, after the 2021 season, because the team did not want to pay Wagner a cap hit of almost $20 million.
Since signing with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 (before returning to the Seahawks in 2023 before leaving yet again), Wagner has made no more than $7 million cash. That is awful for a player of his ilk, one who remains among the best at his position in the league.
Again, this is all relative because there are people who are great at their jobs and make only $30,000 a year, but the reality is that NFL players are going to make a lot more. Wagner is worthy of being paid as much as his contemporaries are, and he isn't.
According to Benjamin, "Like a fine wine, Wagner just can't stop aging gracefully. He'll be 35 at the start of 2025, which means the Commanders can only count on him for so long. Or can they? The longtime Seattle Seahawks star has missed just three games over the last decade, and while he may not possess the top-end athleticism of today's linebackers, he remains a physical force close to the line, totaling 1,800-plus tackles for his career."
Of course, making all those tackles in the past does not equate to guaranteeing future success, but Wagner is about as reliable a player as can be found in the annals of the NFL. He has never had a season where he was involved in fewer than 104 tackles, and he has had at least 132 in each of the last nine seasons.
His career missed tackle rate is an astonishingly low 4.6 percent.
Moreover, Bobby Wagner has been just as good a human being as he has been a football player. He is missed for both reasons in Seattle, and when he enters the Hall of Fame, he will do so by being remembered as one of the most important pieces of the Seahawks' Legion of Boom.
More Seahawks news and analysis: