Does Bobby Wagner..

Seem better? I noticed the announcers said that they were surprised he kept himself in shape. So that got me thinking of what alternate strength and training regimen he would have done to keep off the tow and stay in great shape and maybe he actually benefitted from switching up his routine. For missing what 5 games he's playing good ball.

Well for one, swimming or "running" in a pool puts no weight on your toe, and keeps your cardio up. I know tons of runners that do that.

Running in a pool is damn close to magic. The hydrostatic attraction off water molecules essentially resist every move you make. Running in water is non impact and activates more muscles in your body. I wish more players would do it healthy and not just when injured. Looking at you carp.

You can squat heavy with a toe injury. For an elite athlete who has been strength training for a very long time, running in a pool is not sufficient stimulus to develop or maintain strength. It could be good for conditioning if used with the right level of intensity and intervals. You could use a rower pretty effectively too.

You can do quite a bit on a toe injury...except the hard cuts that you need to do when you play. As said above, there are tons of ways he can condition and strength train without hindering healing. Swimming, sprints on a rowing machine, squats, dead lifts. All that said, he seems to be reading gaps beautifully. Seems like in his off time he just picked every team at the end of our schedule and studied the hell out of their game film

Better?

No, he was pretty damn amazing last year. I think with all the attention paid to the LOB last year, guys like Wagner are finally getting their props. All it took was him missing those games earlier in the season for everyone to realize that we might have a couple next man up positions on this defense, but middle LB isn't one of them.

He will be priority #1 next off season after Russell's signed.