{"id":735905,"date":"2026-02-07T15:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735905\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:30:13","slug":"will-bobby-wagner-return-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735905\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Bobby Wagner return in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 7, 2026, 4:47 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Washington Commanders<\/a> linebacker Bobby Wagner received the ultimate honor on Thursday night, being named the 2025 Walter Payton<\/a> NFL Man of the Year. Wagner almost never leaves the field, but he’s just as busy off the field.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Wagner partnered with Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., to launch the Phenia May Fund to raise stroke awareness and support patients. Wagner had previously partnered with Cedars-Sinai, Kaiser Permanente, and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. The Phenia May Fund was named after Wagner’s mother, who passed away in 2009 due to the complications of a stroke when he was a freshman linebacker at Utah State.<\/p>\n

On the field, the 35-year-old Wagner recorded his 2,000th-career tackle in Washington’s regular-season finale, becoming only the third player in NFL history to do so. In two seasons with the Commanders<\/a>, Wagner started every game and almost never left the field.<\/p>\n

In March, Wagner will be a free agent. It’s the fourth consecutive year that Wagner will be a free agent. Will he return for a 15th NFL season in 2026? Even more, will he return to the Commanders?<\/p>\n

After Wagner won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, he was asked if he planned to play next season, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic.<\/p>\n

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Wagner has a month before free agency begins, so there is no rush to make a decision. As an older player, he could also sign before training camp, but knowing Wagner’s commitment and preparation, he will sign somewhere in March so he can participate in his team’s entire offseason program.<\/p>\n

Washington GM Adam Peters made it clear at the end of the season that the Commanders needed to get “younger and faster.” Wagner was excellent last season, but was a liability in coverage. Teams would target him and Washington had no answer. With a new defensive coordinator, Daronte Jones, now could be the time for the Commanders to go in another direction.<\/p>\n

If Wagner chooses to play another season, it’s unlikely to be as a part-time role player. Washington needs to find its future at middle linebacker. The Commanders would miss Wagner’s presence and leadership. He’s a rare player and deserves credit for helping reverse Washington’s culture.<\/p>\n

Wagner has a close relationship with head coach Dan Quinn, linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. and quarterback Jayden Daniels. What does that mean? It’s unknown, but if he truly wants to return, the Commanders will have a choice to make. Can they still get “younger and faster” by bringing Wagner back?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 4:47 a.m. ET Washington Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner received the ultimate honor on Thursday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[95878,427,7,6,95993,95994,95882,96000,96027,96003,105900,95896,95888,95895,95906,95883,103691,96006,95881,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-735905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","13":"tag-sstsncommanders","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagbobby-wagner","16":"tag-tagcollege-sports","17":"tag-tagjayden-daniels","18":"tag-tagkaiser-permanente","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-positive","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-tagwalter-payton","25":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","26":"tag-typestory","27":"tag-washington","28":"tag-washington-commanders","29":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116030067595036741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}