Jordan Magee can't become the next Bobby Wagner. The 14-year veteran just hit 2,000 tackles in his career -- a feat accomplished by just two other players -- so the future Hall of Famer's skill set is not something a second-year player can easily replicate.
But Magee can use Wagner's wealth of experience to be "the best Magee" he can be, as he put it, and he's taken every opportunity to soak in as much knowledge as possible.
"He's been a valuable piece of my development," Magee said Monday.
Wagner hasn't publicly discussed his future yet, but even if he does re-sign with Washington, it's unlikely that he'll remain with the team longer than a year. The Commanders need a successor at the middle linebacker spot, and it's possible that Magee could be it, as he had an increased role in his second season. For now, Magee wants to learn as much as possible, and he's done plenty of that with Wagner as his teammate.
"He's helped me...just get better on and off the field," Magee said.
It's clear that Magee has the talent to be the middle linebacker the Commanders need to run their defense. A 2024 fifth-round pick from Temple, Magee was known for being an aggressive defender who had the speed to attack ball carriers both downhill and sideline-to-sideline. He showed off that trait during training camp in 2024 before a knee injury sidelined him for most of the season.
Magee took on a more active role the following year and played in at least 40% of the defensive snaps seven times. He feels like he got more comfortable in the system, which helped him play faster and with more instincts. He finished the season ranked sixth on the team in tackles with 54 and three stops for a loss, both of which were a drastic improvement from his rookie season.
Though Wagner was a starter himself, he still found time to provide Magee with some advice and can be given some credit for Magee's growth. His lessons range from helping him get in the right spot on the field to making sure he's preparing himself correctly off the field. The key theme: always have a plan.
"For me, it was really trying to get my process right," Magee said. "What I do in the morning and all the way to the end of practice. When I get home, [I] gotta be consistent in that routine."
On the field, Wagner helped Magee get a better grasp of offensive tendencies and how to attack certain players. Most of that comes from watching film, and Wagner likes to dissect games from multiple angles. He even likes watching the TV copy because he can hear the quarterback's cadence or other checks at the line of scrimmage. That approach has helped Wagner and those around him out a few times, as he told Magee about a time when one of his teammates made an interception based on how Philip Rivers made a check before a play.
Now, Magee has folded watching the TV copy of games into his routine, and it's helped him speed up his processing.
"That's film study and me being on the field getting more comfortable in my position," Magee said.
Magee has about 100 days until the team's offseason workout program, and he has a list of things he wants to improve before his third season. He wants to continue growing in the film room and fine-tune his leverage -- something he felt could use some tweaking after the season finale.
Nevertheless, his coaches can see the progress he's made, and it's given them confidence that he can handle calling the defense with the green dot helmet if called upon.
"I thought that's a pretty good sign about the traits that were shown about him," said head coach Dan Quinn. "It's harder to know in the process. I see him calling it, leading it, doing those things, but if you get on the board, you see his football acumen, then you could see that we'll develop him into that."
