Bobby Wagner has a resume unlike anyone who has played football in Washington in many years.
He is a six-time All-Pro selection, a Super Bowl champion and should be fitted for a gold Hall of Fame jacket when he retires. But because he is not ready for that step just yet, the veteran linebacker is embracing a very new challenge, leaving his comfort zone on the West Coast in Seattle to be a leader and mentor for the rebuilding Commanders.
“You just share your scars,” Wagner said. “A lot of things that you can’t learn from youth, you can learn from experience. So people that can give that knowledge and give that insight — things that I did my rookie year, my second year, third year — and try to have you avoid some of those mistakes. I think that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Even before playing a game in burgundy and gold, the coaching staff has noticed Wagner making an impact on teammates young and old alike. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the new face of the franchise after being taken with the second pick in the draft, is eager to pick Wagner's brain, soak up some information and learn strong habits — and he is not alone in that desire.
“You just go to him to get some knowledge,” said defensive tackle Daron Payne, who's going into his seventh NFL season. “Just a good vet guy that you can go to, talk to about anything.”
Coach Dan Quinn, whose first defensive coordinator job in the league came with the Seahawks in 2013, still remembers Wagner — then in just his second professional season — answering every question posed about what was being introduced.
Now, Quinn watches Wagner pull other players aside to point things out to discuss a type of coverage or concept and is proud of the 34-year-old's evolution to this stage of his career.
“This is a rare competitor,” Quinn said. “When you look back on it, some of the people that mentored (him), now that’s a way to pay it forward. And so that’s one of the coolest parts of our game is when now you get to pass that along to the next one, and the very best players do that.”
Wagner learned from a young age from Seattle teammates Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman and took it a step further, talking to legendary linebackers such as Mike Singletary and Ray Lewis about how to command a unit. He believes he was blessed to have natural leaders around him and has tried to grow into that role.
“Those guys I had a chance to learn from, and when it was my opportunity, I try to take advantage of it,” Wagner said. “I think the middle linebacker position always naturally you’re a leader because you call the plays, you have to relay the messages and you’re the one that tends to communicate the most in most cases.”
Communicating plenty on and off the field, though new general manager Adam Peters and Quinn did not sign Wagner to a contract worth up to $8.5 million to just be a teacher. He is expected to help transform Washington's defense that ranked last among 32 teams last season as one of several new faces.
“It’s major, especially when you have a whole new defense,” defensive end Clelin Ferrell said. “It’s major having a leader like that, somebody who leads by example.”
That example is something fellow vets such as defensive tackle Jonathan Allen hopes is contagious, filtering down from Wagner to the rest of the roster.
“He just brings a winning presence, a winning culture the way he works every day," Allen said. “And when you see a guy like that who I think is in year 13 — a first-ballot Hall of Famer — work as hard as he does, there’s really no excuse for anybody else.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
