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LB Bobby Wagner Details How Russell Wilson Tried Recruiting Him to Broncos Early On

The timeline in question here is curious.
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Just how long Denver Broncos' GM George Paton worked on the blockbuster Russell Wilson trade with the Seattle Seahawks remains a question of intrigue. Wilson’s former Seattle teammate, Bobby Wagner, shed some light on what was going on behind the scenes prior to both men leaving the Pacific Northwest.

Wagner was surprisingly cut by the Seahawks on March 9, and that correlated almost exactly to when Wilson was traded to the Broncos for a bundle of draft picks and veteran players.

During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Wagner dated a conversation he'd had with Wilson about following him to the Broncos down to somewhere at the start of March, just prior to the massive trade becoming official.

“Well, no, I knew about it. The funny thing was he you know he actually called me a few days before, maybe even a week before and just asked me what my thoughts were about going there,” Wagner told Eisen. “And I was like, ‘I don’t have any thoughts, my heart is in Seattle, so I ain’t really went that far.’ So, I knew that it was really close for him to call me to ask me a question like that I felt like.”

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Eisen attempted to tie down Wagner to a date in February, which presumably would add to some added controversy, but that would certainly be slightly premature to the Wilson trade becoming solid. That being said, the perennial Pro Bowler was certainly in the know about Wilson being traded before any of the news leaked out via NFL insider Adam Schefter on March 8.

It also implied that Wilson may have had some unique insider knowledge that the Seahawks were preparing to part with Wagner's services, which also proved to the veteran linebacker that his long-time teammate was already recruiting for his new team.

“Denver, yeah, specifically,” Wagner replied to Eisen’s questioning. “No, it happened like, I’m not sure the exact time but it happened before it happened. I knew there was a chance that was going to happen, so I was like 'Okay, well he’s probably leaving… so he’s probably leaving—so I should probably get prepared for sure.'”

Clearly, Wilson was openly feathering his new Mile High nest. Reuniting the two former Seahawks' defensive and offensive heavyweights would have been a serious additional coup for Paton and the Broncos. 

But Wagner ultimately opted to stay in the NFC West on a very agreeable five-year, $50 million deal with the Los Angeles Rams, which just happened to throw in the bonus of facing his former team twice every season.

Wagner's appearance on the Eisen show reveals that superstar quarterbacks hold considerable power in the modern NFL. 


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