John KeimDec 18, 2025, 05:02 PM ET
- John Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored/co-authored four books. You can also listen to him on 'The John Keim Report', which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.
ASHBURN, Va. -- As Washington Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner closes in on a career milestone, he just finished one that could set him up after football.
Wagner finished his coursework for an MBA in business at Howard University last week, where he'll graduate in May. He started the 18-month program in January 2024 -- but Wagner said he loaded up on classes this summer to avoid taking them in the spring.
Wagner noted that 90% of the work was online but that he also attended classes in person this summer.
He was involved in business ventures such as becoming a minority investor in the WNBA's Seattle Storm this summer, and he wanted people to know he was serious about business, which is why he sought the degree.
"Sometimes when you come from playing football and go into the business world," he said, "a lot of people feel like the reason why you're able to get into those spaces is because of people that you know and they feel like we skip steps or they feel like we haven't done the work.
"I've done the work through challenging times that most people wouldn't have done."
In Washington's last three games, Wagner needs just 25 more tackles to become 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 with Fletcher, who serves as the Commanders' radio analyst, about what the milestone means. Wagner said it is more about making players he began his career with proud. And, he said, he hasn't lost his love of the game.
"It's been a challenging season, but I enjoy playing," Wagner said. "I enjoy being around these guys and they make it fun."
He remembers players and others around him suggesting to him early in his career to get an advanced degree.
"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 that really pushed me to understand that this game could be taken away from you at any given moment."
He also wanted to disprove the myth that players can't succeed on the field while pursuing other ventures. Wagner is a likely 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, then they feel like you're not focused," Wagner said. "And then when you retire and don't have nothing going on, they're like, 'Why you didn't do something else?' And so you can't really listen to what people saying because they're not you at the end of your career and trying to figure stuff out. I'm trying to break that concept.
"You can master the field you're in and also learn and study other things."
Besides, he said, "guys play video games and stuff during the season. I just choose to learn."
Wagner said Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was another source of inspiration.
"He was a guy that I felt like everybody, from the outside looking in, everybody was like, 'All he does is basketball and nothing else,'" Wagner said, "And then he retired, [and you] realized how much he wrote in his off time. You realized how much he did poetry and learned the piano, taught stuff; how to learn the piano, did business, all these different things. And if somebody like that can do it, then anybody could do it."
As Wagner stood in front of the media wearing a blue Howard sweatshirt, he said getting an advanced degree was something his "younger self would have been surprised" to see.
"I was going to school and playing ball," Wagner said about his days at Utah State. "But I think being intentional about what you want, I think is something I learned. I like education. I like education, clearly that's why I did it."
