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john keem
Ashburn, VA – A.S. Washington Commanders linebacker bobby wagner Close to a career milestone, he has just achieved a feat that may set him apart from football.
Wagner completed his coursework last week for an MBA in Business at Howard University, where he will graduate in May. He started the 18-month program in January 2024 — but Wagner said he delayed classes this summer to avoid taking classes in the spring.
Wagner said 90% of the work was online but she also attended in-person classes this summer.
He was involved in business ventures such as becoming minority investors in the wnba seattle hurricane this summer, and he wanted people to know he was serious about business, which is why he sought a degree.
“Sometimes when you come from playing football and go into the business world,” he said, “a lot of people feel like the reason you’re able to get into those places is because of the people you know and they think we skip steps or they think we haven’t done the work.
“I’ve done things in challenging times that most people can’t do.”
Over Washington’s last three games, Wagner needs just 25 more tackles to become just the third NFL player to reach 2,000 in his career, joining former linebackers Ray Lewis and London Fletcher.
Wagner said Thursday that he recently spoke to Fletcher, who serves as the commanders’ radio analyst, about what the milestone means. Wagner said it’s more about making players, something he started his career with pride. And, he said, he hasn’t lost his love for the game.
“It’s been a challenging season, but I enjoy playing,” Wagner said. “I love being around these guys and they make it fun.”
He remembers that players and others around him suggested him to get an advanced degree early in his career.
“I was just like, ‘Man, I just got here.’ In my mind, I have 10-plus years,” Wagner said. “But I had really good mentors who really pushed me to understand that this game can be taken away from you at any time.”
He also wanted to debunk the myth that players cannot be successful on the field while pursuing other ventures. Wagner is a potential future Hall of Famer after being voted to 11 All-Pro teams – six on the first team – and 10 Pro Bowls.
“From the outside world, if you do something else, they feel like you’re not focused,” Wagner said. “And then when you retire and you don’t have anything going on, they say, ‘Why didn’t you do something else?’ And so you can’t really hear what people are saying because they’re not you who is at the end of their career and trying to figure things out. I’m trying to break that concept.
“You can master the field you are in and also learn and study other things.”
Additionally, he said, “People play video games and other things during the season. I just choose to learn.”
Wagner said Los Angeles Lakers The great Kobe Bryant was another source of inspiration.
“He was a guy who to me seemed like everyone else, from the outside looking in, everyone was like, ‘He only does basketball and nothing else,'” Wagner said, “and then he retired, [and you] Realized how much he wrote in his spare time. You realize how much poetry he did and learned piano, taught stuff; How to learn piano, how to do business, all these different things. And if someone like that can do it, anyone can do it.”
When Wagner stood before the media wearing a blue Howard sweatshirt, he said that receiving an advanced degree was something his “younger self would have been surprised to see”.
“I was going to school and playing ball,” Wagner said of his days at Utah State. “But I think being intentional about what you want, I think that’s something I learned. I love education. I love education, obviously that’s why I did it.”
