Bobby Wagner says Seahawks’ camaraderie and resiliency were challenged in 2016

The results were pretty much as expected from the Seahawks’ defense in 2016: Dominating at times and finishing in the top five in points allowed. But the way the group got to that point was anything but smooth.

Prior to joining six other Seahawks on the field for Sunday’s Pro Bowl in Orlando, Fla., linebacker Bobby Wagner reflected on the Seahawks’ season with 710 ESPN Seattle’s John Clayton.

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Wagner, who led the NFL with 167 tackles while adding a career-high 4.5 sacks, is among the candidates for defensive player of the year. He said he likes the team and where it’s headed and that “we’ve just got to re-dedicate and re-focus and I feel we’ll be fine.” But he said some of the biggest takeaways from last year came from issues inside the locker room.

“I think this year we got challenged a lot,” Wagner said Friday. “Like, I feel like our camaraderie got challenged a lot and our resiliency got challenged, and I feel like we made it through that, and we were able to handle every adversity that kind of hit our way and I think we just need to continue to grow on that, as well as get some guys back, get some guys healthy.”

Wagner did not mention any specific challenges in the interview, such as the well-documented flair-ups from cornerback Richard Sherman. When asked what caused the challenges in the locker room, Wagner responded: “I think it was a mixture of things. I think it was internal. I think it was certain things that don’t normally happen were happening and it was something we weren’t accustomed to and we had to be able to recognize it, fix the problem and move forward and I feel like we did that when those challenges presented themselves.

“I like how we’re growing. I feel like we have so much ball left, we still have so much things that we can get done.”

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