Rams to release star LB Bobby Wagner after one season

Updated Feb. 23, 2023 7:52 p.m. ET

Bobby Wagner proved last year to still be one of the best linebackers in the NFL. He'll be available for hire again this spring.

The Los Angeles Rams and the eight-time Pro Bowler have mutually agreed to part ways, per multiple reports. 

Wagner's impending release comes less than 12 months after the future Hall of Famer signed a five-year deal with the then-reigning Super Bowl champions. The transaction won't become official until the start of the new league year (March 15), so Wagner has some time to figure out his next move.

For the Rams, it's a cost-cutting decision after they went all-in on a repeat title bid and plummeted to a 5-12 mark. For the 32-year-old Wagner, it's an opportunity to contribute to another potential contender. He earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2022 after starting all 17 games and recording 140 tackles, two interceptions and a career-high six sacks. Wagner, in fact, was Pro Football Focus' highest-graded linebacker. 

He now joins a free-agent class of linebackers that already includes Lavonte David, David Long, Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Germaine Pratt and Leighton Vander Esch, among others. 

Wagner's recent play is sure to generate a market. He demonstrated virtually no drop-off from his storied tenure with the Seattle Seahawks, with whom he garnered six first-team All-Pro selections over 10 seasons and made the 2010s All-Decade Team while serving as a linchpin of one of the greatest defenses in league history, affectionately known as the "Legion of Boom"

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