GM John Schneider acknowledges Seahawks talking to Bobby Wagner. Market opens next week

The Seahawks’ real interest in bringing back Bobby Wagner now includes John Schneider and Pete Carroll talking to him.

Because the Los Angeles Rams have officially announced Wagner’s release, Schneider acknowledged what he would not and could not the week before when the six-time All-Pro linebacker linebacker was still under contract with L.A.: The Seahawks are talking to Wagner.

“We have been able to now, so Pete and I were able to talk to him the other day, and we had a great, awesome, frank conversation,” Schneider, the team’s general manager, said Thursday during his regular segment with Seattle’s KIRO-AM radio. “So he knows where we are, and we know where he’s at.

“We have so much respect for him personally and professionally, so we were able to talk through some things. And, yeah, we know where it’s going.”

Last week at the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis, multiple league sources told The News Tribune the Seahawks are keenly interested in signing back Wagner after his year away.

Seattle has major issues with both the starting inside linebackers that replaced Wagner during the 2022 season. Jordyn Brooks recently had surgery to repair an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee from January. He is likely to remain out past the start of next season. Cody Barton’s contract expired. He is poised to enter free agency when the market opens Wednesday.

Schneider and Carroll said last week at the combine they couldn’t comment about Wagner then, because he was still officially under contract with the Rams. Saying nothing kept Schneider and Carroll following the NFL’s rules against tampering with players under contract with other teams.

A day later, the Rams announced they were releasing Wagner.

“I love Bobby, you know. He’s meant the world to us and our program and he played particularly well against us (last season, for the Rams),” Carroll said last week at the combine.

“So, you know, we’ll see what happens.”

Wagner turns 33 in June. He played one season for Los Angeles after Seattle released him 12 months ago. The Seahawks did that to save $16.6 million against the 2022 salary cap on the final year of his non-guaranteed Seattle contract.

NFL sources at the combine indicated to the TNT last week a short-term deal for Wagner with Seattle could happen soon after the free agent market opens.

The Rams said while announcing they are releasing Wagner the “transaction will become official after the start of the new league year on March 15.” So, officially, he won’t sign with another team until after that.

But the league allows free agents and their representatives to begin talking to teams about contracts Monday, the start of the so-called “legal tampering period” of two days. As he has for years Wagner is again representing himself, without an agent.

How it would need to happen

It’s going to take a few things to happen between now and then for him to rejoin the Seahawks — with the team, and with Wagner.

The first one already has.

Seattle completed its top offseason task and largest investment on Thursday. Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith signed his new three-year contract. That had to happen first before the team knew how much money it has to spend in free agency this spring.

“Oh, it’s huge. We have an order of events, and Geno knew that he was first and foremost,” Schneider said Thursday at the press conference to announce Smith’s re-signing.

Next, the Seahawks have prioritized fixing their defensive front seven that ruined most of what Smith did in his record-breaking 2022 season. That fixing will be done through next month’s draft — in which Seattle has four of the first 52 picks, and five in the first 83 — and in free agency.

The team was estimated by overthecap.com to have $30.5 million available under the 2023 NFL salary cap before re-signing Smith to a cap-friendly deal. It was closer to $20 million available, considering the nearly $10 million in cap space Seattle’s 10 selections in next month’s draft will need.

Smith acknowledging agreeing to a flexible contract with incentives he’ll have to earn to get fully paid so that the Seahawks would maintain the ability to sign free agents to build a championship team around him.

“I believe in team,” Smith said Thursday.

“We know where we have to be in order to be able to field a championship team,” Schneider said last week, revealing what proved to be his negotiating tack with Smith and his agents.

“You want to...it’s two-fold, right? You want to max out everybody’s opportunities for themselves (financially), and then max out the opportunity for the organization at every position, especially these positions that you feel you need to improve on.”

Wagner’s position is absolutely one the Seahawks need to improve on.

“It does bring a sense of urgency, and we have to address it,” Carroll said last week of inside linebacker. “There’s a number of guys in free agency, if we need to go that way.”

The money details

The Rams signed Wagner, a native of inland Ontario, California, to a back-loaded contract last offseason. It was technically for five years and up to $50 million with a $5 million signing bonus and $20 million in guarantees. He had been scheduled for a base salary of $7.5 million for 2023. Los Angeles had been obligated to fully guarantee all of that amount on March 19. Wagner would have cost the Rams $11 million in cash and $12.75 million in salary-cap space for 2023.

The last thing it will take for Wagner to return to Seattle for 2023: His willingness to sign a short-term contract lower in base pay, and loaded with incentives. Such a deal would be at a far more cap-friendly charge than that $16 million he was to cost Seattle in 2022.