Bobby Wagner is a very popular name for Cincinnati Bengals fans.
For good reason, too: Linebacker is a need for the Bengals and Wagner is one of the best free agents at the position.
Even better: The Bengals have repeatedly talked about needing to add a veteran presence to the room (which also made it obvious they wouldn’t be attacking the position in the draft).
In the wake of the NFL draft, Wagner is still out there on the open market and national spots like CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan continue to list the Bengals as his best fit in free agency.
“After the Commanders selected Sonny Styles in the first round, a return to Washington may not be in the cards for Bobby Wagner, and it’d make sense for the Bengals to pounce,” Sullivan wrote. For Wagner, this pairing would make sense not only from a need standpoint, but the linebacker would also give himself a good shot at a deep playoff run with Joe Burrow as his quarterback, giving him possibly one last kick at the can for another Super Bowl title.”
Wagner is going on 36 years old and has a listed market value of roughly $7.7 million for one year at places like Spotrac.
That might be a little pricey if the Bengals really want Wagner as a veteran rotational guy while Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter take most of the snaps.
But…that’s the cost of going all-in for a title around Joe Burrow. They very clearly weren’t last year when adding linebacker Oren Burks, which backfired well before the Logan Wilson drama.
The Bengals have sent plenty of signs to Burrow and fans that this year is different. Wagner would be the next, to say the least.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ best free-agent target after draft still makes perfect sense