RENTON, Wash. -- If Tyrel Dodson ever needed a cool reminder of how far his football career has come, he can check his direct messages to Bobby Wagner.
Almost a decade ago, Dodson was an all-state player at Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee, when he reached out on social media to the Seattle Seahawks' future Hall of Famer, one of his favorite NFL players. From one linebacker to another, Dodson told Wagner that he loved his game. Wagner thanked him for the compliment.
The two reconnected this past spring, when Dodson sent another message after signing a one-year, $4.26 million deal with Seattle to replace Wagner as the Seahawks' middle linebacker. Wagner offered his congratulations. Dodson called it "surreal."
"When I got signed here, I said, 'Isn't that crazy? Everything's full circle,'" Dodson recalled, "and he's like, 'Yeah, Seahawks are awesome, 12s are going to go crazy.' And stuff like that."
Dodson's addition during the first week of free agency and that of Jerome Baker (one year, $7 million) two days later were part of an overhaul of Seattle's inside linebacker corps, where they replaced Wagner and Jordyn Brooks as well as top backup Devin Bush.
The Seahawks were interested in bringing back Brooks, who instead signed with the Miami Dolphins, but they were determined to move on from the 34-year-old Wagner. It was only at Pete Carroll's behest that Seattle brought him back in 2023 after his one-year hiatus with the Los Angeles Rams. So when Carroll was fired in January and John Schneider assumed final say over personnel matters, it was a virtual certainty that the long-time general manager and new head coach Mike Macdonald would look to get younger and faster at that position.
The team feels they accomplished that with the 26-year-old Dodson -- who's 6-foot, 237 pounds and has 4.6 speed -- even though his resume pales in comparison to Wagner's.
"I can do everything," he said last weekend, speaking to reporters for the first time since his signing. "I can cover sideline to sideline. I feel like I'm just a good teammate."
After entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent from Texas A&M in 2019, Dodson was a backup and special teams player with the Buffalo Bills for most of his first four and a half seasons. It wasn't until Matt Milano's season-ending knee injury last October that he ascended to a starting role. Dodson finished with career highs in tackles (74), sacks (2.5) and tackles for loss (eight) while starting the final 10 games.
"This makes me actually want to cry," Dodson said of finally getting the opportunity to start, "because everything that I put forward, coming in early and just waiting my turn. When I got my turn, you got to maximize your opportunity ... It felt good because being an undrafted guy, those opportunities are slim."
Whereas Dodson has been a backup for most of his career to this point, Baker comes to Seattle with a longer track record of starting (82 games in six seasons) and making plays (22.5 sacks and five interceptions). A third-round pick out of Ohio State in 2018, he topped 100 tackles three times for the Dolphins, who cut him in March with one season left on a contract that averaged $12.5 million per year.
"I'm a smart player that hustles to the ball sideline to sideline," Baker said. "I just play football how it's supposed to be played."
Miami released Baker with a failed physical designation after he had surgery to repair a wrist injury that kept him out of the Dolphins' wild-card playoff loss. He also missed four games in December with an MCL injury.
Baker was sidelined during the spring as his wrist and knee recovered, as was Dodson due to a shoulder injury from last season. They were placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list before camp but were activated ahead of the first practice, which helped allay concerns from observers about the state of Seattle's revamped inside linebacker corps.
Seattle's top three options behind Baker and Dodson are rookie fourth-round pick Tyrice Knight as well as a pair of former undrafted players in Jon Rhattigan and Patrick O'Connell, who have primarily played on special teams. The depth was enough of a question mark that Seattle was open to bringing back Jamal Adams with the thought that he'd play weak-side linebacker in a part-time role, but Adams -- uninterested in a position switch from safety -- signed with the Tennessee Titans instead.
The Seahawks have been ramping Dodson and Baker back up, which is why Rhattigan and Knight are still getting some first-team reps. It's primarily been Dodson at middle linebacker and Baker on the weak side, but each has seen some time at the other spot.
Dodson relayed the defensive playcalls in Buffalo and has been practicing to do so for Seattle. That role is often known as "wearing the green dot" for the sticker on the back of that player's helmet, which denotes that it's equipped with a one-way radio allowing him to hear the call from the sideline.
Macdonald's defense, as complex as it is, requires a great deal of pre-snap communication beyond one player simply relaying the play. Macdonald has been pleased with how Dodson and Baker have handled those responsibilities.
"We can get to some calls where there's a lot going on [we have to] be able to communicate that, so we've had a couple things that have happened in the first few days that we've realized, 'Hey, we need to do better than we've been doing getting everybody on the same page, all three levels,'" Macdonald said. "It's easy to say, 'Hey I got the green dot and I'm making the calls,' but when guys are breathing heavy, and people are coming back and the offense is going fast, there's a lot going on.
"It's not an easy task, so those guys have done a great job of understanding how important it is that we're all on the same page ... If you have one guy that doesn't get the call, that's not good enough. I think we've seen a pretty good improvement the last couple days."
For almost a decade, the Seahawks enjoyed the kind of continuity at inside linebacker that's rare in the free-agency era. Wagner and K.J. Wright -- both homegrown players who rank first and third, respectively, on the franchise's all-time tackles list -- spent nine seasons together manning the middle of Seattle's defense. Now the Seahawks are turning to a pair of veteran additions to see if they can be more than just one-year stopgaps.
"You definitely got to know about the history of Seattle linebackers," Baker said. "I got a ton of respect for those guys. At the end of the day, my game is a little different from those linebackers. Defense is a little different. For me, it's about getting together with [Dodson], going out there and playing football the right way, how we know how to play. ... We have respect for those guys, but it's our time to make our own legacy."