Washington Commanders standout linebacker Bobby Wagner has successfully completed an 18-month Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Howard University, balancing his demanding NFL career with rigorous academic work. Wagner finished all course requirements in December and is scheduled to officially graduate in May, a significant milestone for the veteran defensive leader as he prepares for life after football.
Wagner enrolled in the Howard University program in January 2024, accelerating his path to graduation by taking several courses during the summer rather than the traditional spring schedule. While the majority of his coursework was completed online, he also had the opportunity to attend in-person classes on campus over the summer.
Beyond being a dominant force on the football field, Wagner has established himself as a savvy businessman. This summer, he became a minority investor in the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. His decision to pursue an advanced degree further underscores his commitment to expanding his business acumen and preparing for life beyond football.
“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.”
Graduating with his MBA is not the only milestone Wagner has to celebrate. He is just 25 tackles away from joining Ray Lewis and London Fletcher as only the third player in NFL history to record 2,000 career tackles. Wagner recently spoke with Fletcher about the significance of the moment.
As reported by ESPN’s John Keim, Wagner said earning his degree is ultimately about making the players he began his career with proud. He shared that they were the ones who encouraged him early on to pursue an advanced degree, a decision he now sees as a meaningful part of his legacy beyond the field.
“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.”
Wagner also hopes to dismantle the common misconception that football players who pursue interests beyond the game cannot succeed on the field. His career achievements tell a different story. Wagner has been selected to 11 All-Pro teams, including six First Team honors, and has earned 10 Pro Bowl selections.
With credentials like these, many consider him a shoo-in for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“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 didn't you do something else?' And so you can't really listen to what people are 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.”
Tapping into his “Mamba Mentality,” Wagner said the late Kobe Bryant was an additional source of inspiration for his pursuit of higher education.
“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.”
While addressing the media sporting a sweatshirt of his soon-to-be alma mater, Wagner says that getting an advanced degree would be something his “younger self would have been surprised” to see.
