Rams weren’t looking for a linebacker, but chance to add Bobby Wagner was eye-popping

The Rams already boasted two defensive gamers that seem destined for the Corridor of Fame.

Defensive lineman Aaron Donald is a three-time NFL defensive participant of the 12 months. Jalen Ramsey is a three-time All-Professional and is altering the definition of the cornerback place.

Now the Rams have added inside linebacker Bobby Wagner, a six-time All-Professional and Tremendous Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks.

It’s as if coach Sean McVay has assembled an all-star online game roster.

“Rattling proper,” McVay joked Monday throughout a videoconference, “We’re taking part in Madden over right here.”

Wagner, 31, agreed to phrases on a five-year take care of the Rams final week and signed a contract on Monday. Phrases haven’t been disclosed.

However regardless of the compensation, the Rams virtually definitely broke from their norm of not investing financially in inside linebackers.

After the Seahawks unceremoniously launched Wagner on March 8 — reportedly saving greater than $16 million in salary-cap house — Donald and Ramsey led the recruiting effort to deliver him to Los Angeles to hitch the defending Tremendous Bowl champions.

“You watch it and admire it from afar,” Wagner, throughout a videoconference, mentioned of the Rams’ tradition. “You realize [the Rams] are prepared to do no matter they will to win.

“However I believe, too, is you may have guys like that, gamers like that which might be All-Execs in their very own proper, attain out to you and wish to crew up.”

Donald and Ramsey informed Wagner they admired his recreation, Wagner mentioned.

“And if there was a chance to come back to L.A., I ought to test it out,” he mentioned. “And that’s what I did.”

It’s a homecoming for Wagner. He grew up within the Inland Empire and performed at Ontario Colony Excessive earlier than starring at Utah State. He mentioned he nonetheless has household within the space and that his nephew attends Colony Excessive.

The chance to play for a Tremendous Bowl champion in entrance of household at SoFi Stadium, and to proceed group efforts in his house area, was too good to go up, he mentioned.

Underneath McVay, the Rams haven’t regarded inside linebacker as a place for heavy and even modest funding. However the probability so as to add Wagner to a protection that features ascending second-year inside linebacker Ernest Jones modified the equation.

As did ensuring that the Rams would not need to play in opposition to the 10-year veteran, a Professional Bowl choice in every of the final eight seasons. Wagner is predicted to solidify a run protection that has struggled in opposition to the division rival San Francisco 49ers.

“Regardless that that wasn’t an enormous place of want, if you’ll, there’s sure gamers that alter your method simply based mostly on their physique of labor, their management all of the intangibles and the manufacturing,” McVay mentioned. “Actually, Bobby was a kind of guys.”

Wagner’s resumé “speaks for itself,” basic supervisor Les Snead mentioned.

“[ILB] is principally three letters within the alphabet,” Snead mentioned of the abbreviation for inside linebacker, “However generally the particular person, and that skillset the particular person brings to the desk, is bigger than these three letters within the alphabet.”

Wagner was a second-round draft decide by the Seahawks in 2012. He anchored the famed “Legion of Increase” defenses that helped the Seahawks win Tremendous Bowl XLVIII on the finish of the 2013 season, and almost win Tremendous Bowl XLIX the following.

Wagner mentioned he thought he would play his whole profession with the Seahawks, however the Seahawks launched him the identical day they traded quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.

Wagner, who serves as his personal agent, was indignant the Seahawks didn’t contact him to inform him he had been launched. He discovered the information from different sources.

“After 10 years it may have been a easy dialog,” he mentioned. “Even when they wished to go in a special route. … I’ve proven the potential of dealing with robust conversations.”

However Wagner mentioned he doesn’t have “hate in my coronary heart” for Seattle, the Seahawks, coach Pete Carroll or basic supervisor John Schneider.

Enjoying in opposition to the Seahawks no less than twice a season in NFC West video games, nonetheless, is a “cherry on high” of his determination to signal with the Rams.

“I’ll make certain [the Seahawks] see me each time we play them,” he mentioned, “so that they’ll know the place I’m at — and I’ll make certain I inform them.

“It received’t be a quiet recreation for me.”