The Seahawks publicly apologized to Bobby Wagner on Wednesday, expressing regret for the way they handled the linebacker’s release last week.
Wagner took to social media Friday to complain about how he learned of his release: “Crazy part about all this. I played there for 10 years & I didn’t even hear it from them that I wasn’t coming back,” Wagner tweeted.
“Yeah, that’s on me. I own that,” General Manager John Schneider said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.
Carroll interjected to take the blame himself, but Schneider wouldn’t hear of it.
“No, it really is [on me],” Schneider said. “I wish I could have handled things better in that regard from a communication standpoint. I owe it to him. The organization owes it to him.”
Wagner had already heard of the plan for the Seahawks to release him before they called him. He’s now a free agent after 10 seasons, a Super Bowl title, eight Pro Bowls and six All-Pros.
Wagner serves as his own agent, which, according to Schneider, was a complicating factor. Former Seahawks Richard Sherman and Russell Okung also represented themselves.
“It’s always somewhat awkward when a player represents himself,” Schneider said. “We’ve had some very high-profile individuals represent themselves here, and you never know exactly what’s going to happen at the end of the day. So to approach somebody and say, ‘There may be a possible trade. Would you consider this?’ And then that player comes back to you, that’s not a good situation. So from a timing standpoint, I wish I would have handled things differently.”