Bobby Wagner: The King of Consistency
Through his first nine years in the NFL, Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner has seemingly done it all. He's become a Super Bowl champion, a seven-time All-Pro and Pro Bowler, a two-time league leader in tackles and the highest-paid player at his position. Therefore, it's easy to wonder what's left for him to aspire to as he eclipses a decade in the world's most unforgiving sport.
"I think it's just to get better," Wagner told Seahawk Maven in an interview last Friday. "I think that's the thing, right? I think that's what makes great players great. You know, when you look at it, a lot of the time you have guys that have one or two good years—you know, really, really special years—but then they don't do anything after that. But, like, to be at the top of the game year in and year out consistently has really always been the goal."
For years, Wagner and 2012 draft-mate Russell Wilson have reiterated the phrase "don't get bored with consistency" to one another. Now the final two remaining members from the Seahawks' 2013 championship-winning roster continue to lead the charge of a consistently successful program in the Pacific Northwest.
"I think that the consistency on being great and a top player, you know, it's always been the goal because it's not too many people that can sustain greatness for a long time."
As Wagner illustrated, consistency has played a key role in the sustainability of his accomplished career—not just in his play, but in his preparation as well. Once Wagner steps out on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Seahawks' Week 1 matchup against the Colts this September, he'll have registered more years in the league (10) than games missed (nine).
For any NFL player—let alone a middle linebacker with a violent play style—that's an incredible achievement, and one not many can say they share with Wagner. And he knows that better than anyone, having played with—and against—countless great players and future Hall of Famers who were forced to call it quits well before the decade mark in their respective careers.
"Man, definitely it's a blessing," Wagner said. "Especially, you know, with only missing nine games. I think a lot of that is my work that I put in not only on the field but off the field, and a lot of that as well is God, and just having great genes 'cause my parents."
The NFLPA doesn't pull any punches with its rookies when they first step into the league, quickly opening their eyes to the harsh realities of football's highest level. Wagner was once on the receiving end of these messages, which primarily drive home the daunting fact that the average NFL career lasts just three years.
That's what makes Wagner's achievements up to this point all the more remarkable; he's the contradiction to a statistical unlikelihood. And it's not just about the numbers he's put up and the honors he's received, but what that's all culminated to, like $101.2 million in career earnings off three separate contracts with the Seahawks—the third and most recent of which he negotiated while acting as his own agent in 2019.
"Getting to three years is hard in itself," Wagner explained. "Not too many people get opportunities to get that second contract, so it's always been these little goals that I've kinda been checking off as I've been going through this journey just so to make sure I'm present and appreciative of everything that's been happening. No, it's not easy as it seems sometimes, but hitting year 10 is definitely special because it's not too many people that can do it, let alone do it at a high level. It's something that I'm definitely proud of and, you know, there's still more goals left out there for me to get, so I'm definitely enjoying it but I'm also not satisfied."
While Wagner has already immortalized himself in the lore of both Seattle sports and the NFL as a whole, his never-ending quest for self-improvement stretches well beyond the gridiron. Currently, he's using the time off between the end of mandatory minicamp and the start of training camp to dive deep into the business and investment worlds and broaden his knowledge.
Dating back to the early stages of his professional career, Wagner has invested a portion of his earnings into several business opportunities. One of his very first plays was BODYARMOR, a sports drink company that has championed the inclusion of professional athletes across all sports since its inception in 2011.
"It's not really an offseason type of thing," Wagner said of his partnership with BODYARMOR. "It's a year-round, 24/7 thing. You know, I drink it pretty much all the time, especially after workouts to rehydrate. It helps me rehydrate and really get the most out of my workouts. I've been a part of the brand for a while, but I've been, you know, obviously a fan and a consumer for a very long time just because I respect what they do. I love the flavors and it's pretty much all I drink."
Some of Wagner's favorite flavors include fruit punch, blueberry pomegranate and orange mango. To him, the variety of flavors and usage of environmentally friendly ingredients has long separated the brand from other sports and recovery drinks, making it his go-to on a daily basis.
With one of his teammates and best friends, Richard Sherman, becoming an investor and lead spokesperson for the brand and one of his childhood heroes, the late Kobe Bryant, holding the third-largest stake in the company, joining the BODYARMOR team was a no-brainer to Wagner.
"You know, they offered me an opportunity to be a part of the brand," Wagner continued. "And I couldn't turn it down because I love to be a part of not only, you know, just great brands, but just things that I genuinely have a passion for and have a love for. So it was just a perfect fit because, you know, I was always drinking it all the time. I was always telling people to drink it before and there was a lot of synergy there, and I was blessed for them to let me be a part of it."
Wagner is continuing to up his game in the investment sphere, partnering with John Connors and Satbir Khanuja—former executives at Microsoft and Amazon, respectively—at tech-based investment firm FUSE last year. His role with FUSE particularly focuses on helping Seattle-based e-commerce businesses grow in an ever-evolving software ecosystem, providing them the tools and opportunities necessary to stay ahead of the curve.
His intensity and winning nature on the football field has translated well to the business world, with the firm citing him as an integral piece in its finalization of its first two deals in "highly competitive processes." And he's not just making waves at FUSE either, planting his flag in other opportunities such as Denali Therapeutics and Andreesen Horowitz's Cultural Leadership Fund, earning him "30 Under 30" honors from Forbes in 2019.
Over the past year, investments have become more spotlighted in the mainstream, thanks in part to the rise of Reddit's "Wall Street Bets." The empowerment the Reddit community has given people around the globe to challenge the norms of the stock market has certainly caught Wagner's attention, who loves everything he's seen from the movement.
"I think there should be more of it," Wagner stated. "What people fail to realize is: that's what happens in the real world. Like, the big-time investors, they talk to one another and they talk about different things they're looking at and things they think, whether it's a trend or whether it's a certain brand or whatever, they talk about wanting to be a part of that. So, you know, for those guys to be going at a different level, it just kinda shows people that there is no limit. So you don't have to work at Goldman Sachs or work at these big banks to just have a conversation and really move the needle if you wanted to."
With players set to report to Seahawks training camp on July 27, football will soon take priority in Wagner's life. Heading into his 10th year, he's faced with perhaps his toughest challenge yet.
A big reason for that is the anticipated departure of longtime Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright, who's still unsure of where he'll land as a free agent in 2021. That sets Wagner up to be the lone veteran atop the team's fairly inexperienced linebacker group, featuring second-year man Jordyn Brooks and Darrell Taylor—another 2020 draftee who's yet to a play a snap at the NFL level—as the two expected starters at the weak and strong-side positions, respectively.
An even bigger reason is the league's addition of a 17th regular season game to each team's schedule, something that has been met with backlash from many NFL players. Wagner understands their frustrations and admits he's not too fond of the season extension himself, though he knows it's ultimately the reality of things and something he and every other player have to prepare for both mentally and physically.
"Definitely gonna take drinking some BODYARMOR, especially towards that 17th game," Wagner said, playfully. "But I think a lot of it, man, too, is the mentality. I've always thought about, you know, the way you approach the season or the way you approach these games is in the mentality. Even when I first got into the league and there was this thing called the 'rookie wall' where you, you know, in the middle of the season you hit the 'rookie wall' because you're not used to playing that many games. But I've never believed in that because that was the mentality that was almost, like, pushed upon you by someone else, so if you let somebody kinda infiltrate your mentality or your mental, then you're kinda susceptible to anything."
If Seahawks fans can count on Bobby Wagner for one thing, it's that he'll always come correct with his mentality. Because of that, he doesn't appear all too concerned with the additional game. Plus, he's used to playing more than 16 games in a season, having made the playoffs in eight of his first nine seasons with multiple deep postseason runs.
"For me, it's a mentality. It's another game, but, you know, I've been playing extra games since I've been here," Wagner acknowledged. "Am I happy about it? Not really, but, I mean, it is what it is at this point. So once it was kinda set in stone, you gotta change your mentality and, you know, since I've been playing for the Seahawks, outside of maybe one season, we've always had extra games and they've been fun. So, you just kinda look at it that way and approach it that way and, at the end of the day, no matter how you feel about the 17th game, there's gonna be people with their pads on ready to strap up and go to war and you either gonna be ready or you're not, and I'm not gonna be one of the people who's not."
For eight of those 17 games, Wagner will have nearly 69,000 Seahawks fans ready to go to war with him at Lumen Field. Better known as the '12s,' Seattle's notoriously loud fanbase will return to the stands in full force later this summer after the COVID-19 pandemic kept the seats at Seahawks home games empty for the entire 2020 season.
Financially, the loss of fans was obviously a major blow to many teams around the NFL, but it was especially tough on Seattle from an identity perspective as well. In a way, the Seahawks without the 12s are like a peanut butter sandwich without the jelly—still familiar, yet incomplete. The players were the same, the uniforms were the same, the game was the same, the stakes were the same, but something was just... missing.
Recalling the team's goal line stand to keep quarterback Cam Newton out of the end zone as the clock expired in the Seahawks' 35-30 win over the Patriots last year, Wagner thinks about what the atmosphere would have been like if the 12s were in attendance. Assured of the pandemonium that would have ensued, he predicts they'll make up for lost time in some of the team's biggest moments this upcoming season.
"I'm definitely very excited for the fans," Wagner expressed. "I thought [playing in an empty stadium] was cool for the first two games maybe, or maybe the first game, and the only reason it was cool was because you got to hear what the coaches talk about on the sideline while you're playing. You don't normally get to hear that, you don't normally get to hear your coaches yelling at you from the sideline when you got fans there. So it was definitely funny to hear some people cuss that you didn't know cussed.
"But outside of that, man, I'm excited to have the fans back, excited to have that experience back. When you think about that game that we played against the Patriots when we had the goal line stand, how crazy that would have been, the element. ... It's definitely gonna be a fun season 'cause I think what's gonna happen is, I think the fans are gonna be a lot louder than normal because they were so accustomed as we were so accustomed to having them every game and then corona kinda took that away. So I think there's gonna be a different appreciation towards it that I'm looking forward to."
The 12s' absence last year serves as a reminder that consistency is not only something to avoid becoming bored with, it's something that can never be taken for granted. Living by that philosophy, Wagner is grateful for each and every opportunity he gets to step out on the football field and play the game he loves.
Once filled with hopes and dreams of getting to this point himself, Wagner knows the next generation is watching and striving to follow in his footsteps. And he's not just setting an example in between the hash marks; he's presenting the blueprint to young athletes to find—and sustain—success beyond football.
Because football is temporary, even for players like Wagner who've more than exceeded the average lifespan of an NFL career.
With the fortunate health and all the accolades he's accumulated, the question remains: where does he go from here? What does he strive for? What does "getting better" mean to a man who continues to build a Hall of Fame career both on and off the football field?
The mentality and the goal is simple, really: domination and growth. Not just against the 11 uniform-clad men that dare stand in his way on Sundays, but in everything he does, all the time, forever.
Special thanks to BODYARMOR for making this interview possible. For more information on BODYARMOR, its partners and where to buy it, visit its website.
