How Bobby Wagner can help his next NFL team

(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

The all-too-common refrain about the modern NFL — and the modern game of football for that matter — is that passing is king.

As such, how you impact the passing game as a player, whether on offense or on defense, matters in terms of your value to an NFL organization.

Thankfully for Wagner, even at this point in his career he is still an asset on passing downs, whether in man or zone coverage. As such, any team looking to sign him can be confident leaving him on the field on third downs or in passing situations.

Last season, the Seahawks were primarily a zone coverage team, according to charting data from Sports Info Solutions. Seattle faced just 93 passing attempts in man coverage — defined as Cover 0, Cover 1 and Cover 2 Man Under — so there are not a ton of opportunities to evaluate where Wagner is in man coverage at this point in his career. Still, plays like this against the Arizona Cardinals offer a glimpse:

Seattle is in Cover 1 here on this 2nd and 7 play against Arizona, and Wagner finds himself isolated against running back James Connor. Arizona is trying to spring Connor open on a weakside option route, with the running back having a two-way go against the linebacker. But Wagner plays this straight, not surrendering leverage of any kind to Connor, and the running back eventually breaks outside to the flat. Wagner matches that route and gets to his back hip, forcing Colt McCoy to try and complete this by throwing a perfect pass. Instead, the football falls harmlessly to the turf, and the protests from the Cardinals’ bench regarding pass interference are ignored by the officials.

Wagner had many more opportunities to flash what he can do in zone coverage situations, and here is where he stands out. On this play against the San Francisco 49ers from Week 13, watch has he initially carries the vertical release from the inside receiver, slides under the dig route from the outside receiver and finally breaks on the checkdown, chopping down the running back for a minimal gain:

While many teams rely more on pattern match zone coverages, this is an example of how, in the right hands, spot-dropping is still effective at the NFL level. You can see Wagner’s experience on this snap, as he has a feel for this route combination and takes away each of Jimmy Garoppolo’s initial reads. San Francisco is hoping that Wagner either stays low — opening up the vertical early in the down — or bails completely, opening up the dig. The linebacker does not bite. Then, when Garoppolo is forced to take the checkdown, Wagner explodes downhill and stops that option from picking up any yardage after the catch.

This play, on 3rd and 7 against the Los Angeles Rams, is an example of how quarterbacks, as hard as they might try, can find it difficult to move Wagner with his eyes thanks to his discipline and experience:

On this third-down snap, Matthew Stafford tries to influence Wagner with a no-look throw, but the linebacker does not take the bait. The Rams have three receivers on the right side and that is where Stafford is looking to throw. The middle receiver, Cooper Kupp, releases vertically. Van Jefferson, the outside receiver, runs a sit route working towards the inside, as does Ben Skowronek. Stafford wants to hit Skowronek on his sit route, but as he lets the pass go — which you get a good view of on the end zone angle — he is looking at Jefferson.

Stafford is hoping that Wagner breaks towards Jefferson, which will free up Skowronek for yardage after the catch. But the veteran LB is not buying, and breaks on the inside receiver. He cannot prevent the completion, but Wagner stops him right at the catch point, short of the sticks.

Fourth down.

One more example of Wagner’s experience and discipline in zone coverage comes again courtesy of Garoppolo. On this play from Week 13, the 49ers use a little run action in the backfield, but Garoppolo looks to throw, targeting Trent Sherfield on the crosser. Watch as Wagner gets under the crosser, putting himself right into the throwing lane:

This is a solid example of a linebacker taking away crossers in response to play-action, and while Garoppolo makes this a bit easy on Wagner by throwing it right to him, this is what you need to do as an LB in today’s NFL.