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Brady HendersonESPN
RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider delivered a mea culpa for the way they handled Bobby Wagner’s release, saying they regret how their longtime defensive captain learned of the team’s plans to move on.
Wagner voiced his displeasure over the situation last Friday, writing on his Twitter account: “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’s tweet came three days after ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that the Seahawks had informed him he was being released. The Seahawks had, in fact, told Wagner that he was being released. But he had apparently caught wind of the plan already.
Schneider and Carroll were asked about the mishap on Wednesday as they spoke to reporters for the first time since the scouting combine.
“Yeah, that’s on me. I own that,” Schneider said.
Carroll interjected to take the blame himself, but Schneider continued: “No, it really is [on me]. 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.”
According to Schneider, a complicating factor was that Wagner serves as his own agent. Former Seahawks Richard Sherman and Russell Okung began doing the same while they were in Seattle.
“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.”
According to Carroll, the Seahawks weren’t certain all along that they’d move on from Wagner. Carroll had even mentioned at the NFL combine that he expected Wagner to…
Source : espn
