What the Seahawks Signing Bobby Wagner Means for the 49ers

The Seahawks don't have any glaring weaknesses on paper.

Grant Cohn | Mar 26, 2023

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San Francisco 49ers

Not the best news for the 49ers.

The Seattle Seahawks have signed linebacker Bobby Wagner to a one-year, $7 million deal, according to reports. Wagner spent the first 10 years of his career with the Seahawks before signing with the Rams last year. Now the Rams are rebuilding, so they released Wagner, even though he was one of the best linebackers in the NFL last season according to Pro Football Focus and SIS Data Hub. And the Seahawks suddenly are one of the best teams in the NFC, and a legitimate threat to the 49ers in the NFC West.

Remember, last season the Seahawks had a good run game, a good pass game, a good pass rush and good pass coverage -- they simply couldn't stop the run. They gave up rushing yards 2,554, 21 rushing touchdowns and 4.9 yards per carry -- putrid numbers. And so they couldn't match up with the 49ers, who run the ball well with Christian McCaffrey.

Enter Bobby Wagner, one of the best run defenders in the NFL, as well as defensive tackles Dre'Mont Jones and Jarran Reed, two more quality run defenders the Seahawks signed this offseason. In addition, strong safety Jamal Adams will return after missing all but one game last season, and the Seahawks have the fifth pick in the draft, which they could use on a franchise-cornerstone defensive player.

The Seahawks don't have any glaring weaknesses on paper. They've had an outstanding offseason. The 49ers will have to stay healthy and play their best football next season to win the NFC West.

Published Mar 26, 2023

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.