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No. 2 comes Sunday when the Seahawks play host to the Detroit
Lions (2-12-1).
The Seahawks (5-10) were eliminated from postseason contention
with last week's 25-24 loss to the Chicago Bears.
They'd already clinched their first losing season in a decade,
leaving the futures of Wilson and Wagner in doubt.
There was some talk about moving Wilson last offseason, but he
remained and has had a subpar year, including missing the first
three games of his career following finger surgery.
Wagner hasn't slowed a bit. The linebacker leads the NFL with a
franchise-record 170 tackles. With five tackles Sunday against
Detroit, he would have the most tackles of any player in a
season since 2000.
"You think about what the next year looks like ... what the
future holds because this was a season that I don't think we all
planned for," said Wagner, who has one year remaining on his
deal and is set to count $20.35 million against the Seahawks'
salary cap next season. "And so obviously there's going to be
some changes. And whether or not I'm part of those changes, I
don't know. But all I can control is these last two games. And
you know, figure it out from there, whatever the team thinks is
the best thing to do moving forward. We'll see how that plays
out.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called Wagner "the standard" by
which current middle linebackers are judged.
"To find a guy with this kind of consistency, character, and the
constitution of how he does his work, how he handles his
business, everybody wants that guy," Carroll said. "If nothing
else, he does make a statement for the model of what you are
looking for. He really is a tremendous team player in all ways."
The Lions could be without quarterback Jared Goff again Sunday.
He missed last weekend's 20-16 loss at Atlanta while on the
COVID-19 list, from which he was activated Monday.
But Goff has also been dealing with a knee injury suffered Week
15 in a 30-12 victory against Arizona.
"Yeah, it's still there," Goff said of the knee ailment after
sitting out practice Wednesday. "We're still dealing with it.
It's day-by-day, but it's still there. I still feel it and
working through it."
If Goff can't go, backup Tim Boyle would get a second
consecutive start. Boyle was 24-of-34 passing for 187 yards and
a touchdown against Atlanta but threw a game-ending interception
from the Falcons' 9-yard line.
The Lions expect to have leading rusher D'Andre Swift back
Sunday after he's missed the past month with a shoulder injury.
"We feel like he's going to be ready this week, and he's been
wanting to go," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "So I think we
feel like we're in a place where, let's go and cut him loose and
let's let him continue to grow and get better. That way we go
into next year, he's that much better for it."
Goff and fullback Jason Cabinda (knee) have missed practice time
this week.
The Seahawks have worked out without wide receiver DK Metcalf
(foot), guard Gabe Jackson (knee), offensive tackle Brandon
Shell (shoulder) and defensive tackles Poona Ford (concussion)
and Al Woods (shoulder).
--Field Level Media
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