“I Wanted To Be Home”

“Just being able to come into the building has been cool,” Wagner said. “Honestly, things didn’t end that great, and I don’t live that far from the building, so I would drive and not have too many nice things to say about the building, until this happened. So it’s good to be back in this place.”

As Seahawks coach Pete Carroll detailed last week at the NFL Annual Meeting, a reunion with Wagner was the logical move as soon as the Rams released him. The Seahawks love Wagner as a player, a person and a leader, and they also had a need at linebacker with Jordyn Brooks recovering from an ACL injury and with Cody Barton leaving in free agency. And for Wagner, returning to Seattle made too much sense seeing as he wasn’t really looking to play anywhere else in the first place. Wagner’s one season away allowed him to play in L.A. close to where he grew up, so there was a benefit there, but once the Rams decided to move on there was no better fit for the nine-time All-Pro.

“I never really wanted to leave in the first place,” he said. “Obviously, business happened, and I had an opportunity to go play in the city I grew up in, and so I thought that was cool. And then I want to come back to the city I kind of matured in. For me, it was cool to be able to make that happen. Me being able to represent myself, I always thought it was cool when you had those agents out there that were able to get the player what he wanted, so I wanted to be home, and this was another home of mine, and I wanted to be back.”

As a veteran player who has also served as his own agent, Wagner knows that the business side of the game means he won’t necessarily get to have his career play out exactly how he’d like, but if it is up to him, he would love for Seattle to be his last stop, though he doesn’t see this as his final season.

“If I had my way, yes,” Wagner said when asked about finishing his career in Seattle. “I hope to play longer than this, but I think we’re at that point where you take it a year at a time.”

While Wagner’s talent and leadership are the primary reason the Seahawks came calling, he also credits the efforts of teammates, led by Quandre Diggs, for his return. Diggs and other Seahawks tweeted often throughout the offseason about the Seahawks bringing Wagner back, and in fact it was Diggs who broke the news of the signing.

“It meant a lot,” Wagner said. “I think that probably played a part in me coming back. There was so much love, not only from him, but DK (Metcalf), Tyler…