Free-agent football players have lots of reasons to join the Rams these days. Only Bobby Wagner can add this reason: SoFi Stadium is freeway-close to Ontario.

When the perennial Pro Bowl inside linebacker went looking for a new team after being released by the Seattle Seahawks, playing nearer to his hometown in San Bernardino County was a priority.

After agreeing to a contract with the Rams on March 31, Wagner will be playing real home games for the first time since his days as a football and basketball star at Colony High in Ontario.

“Realistically, I haven’t been able to play in front of my family consistently since high school,” Wagner said after signing the contract Monday at the Rams’ facility in Thousand Oaks.

“They always had to get on a plane to come see me. Now it’s a drive. So I’m excited to be able to be in front of my family, be closer to home and kind of re-establish myself out in L.A.”

Wagner, who will turn 32 before next season, went from leading Colony’s CIF-SS division championship team in 2007 to receiving his only college scholarship offer from Utah State and starring there for four seasons.

Picked by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft, Wagner has earned eight Pro Bowl and six All-Pro honors, led the league in tackles twice and won a Super Bowl ring.

But he never lost his connection to the Inland Empire, even as he remembered how “nobody knew where that was, and nobody kind of cared about that area.”

“One of the biggest things when I was at Colony was, our team was kind of forgotten about. Everybody would go to L.A., (watch) the L.A. teams,” Wagner said. “I always wanted to, whenever I was fortunate enough and blessed enough to make it to the league, not forget about Colony and that area.”

Being active in the Ontario community is “going to be important to me,” he said.

Wagner, who doesn’t have an agent, negotiated a Rams contract that is worth as much as $50 million over five seasons but allows him to opt out after collecting $17.5 million in the first two years if he hits incentives based on individual and team performance.

He reportedly could have received more money if he had signed elsewhere.

But the Rams had a lot to offer him beyond money, and it was mutual.

“From the beginning, I know Bobby was interested in us based on locale, his hometown, things like that,” Rams general manager Les Snead said Monday.

The Rams had always liked Wagner. The then-St. Louis Rams almost drafted him in 2012. They took cornerback Janoris Jenkins with the 39th pick, thinking Wagner would still be available when they chose again with the 50th. But the Seahawks grabbed him with the 47th.

“The Bobby Wagner Rule became, ‘You know what, if you like a player, don’t try to figure out where he is or isn’t going, just pick the guy,’” Snead said Monday.

Before signing Wagner, Snead, Coach Sean McVay and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris had to figure out how adding a star inside linebacker for the first time in the Rams’ recent history would help the team.

Wagner is an upgrade over Troy Reeder, the restricted free agent whom the Rams did not tender a new contract. He can improve the run defense, and help make up for the loss of free agent outside linebacker Von Miller to the Buffalo Bills. He can play mentor to Ernest Jones, the 2021 third-round draft pick penciled in as the other starter at inside linebacker.

And McVay will no longer have to worry about game-planning against Wagner when the Rams face the Seahawks twice each regular season.

The Seahawks released Wagner on March 9 with one season left on a three-year contract, clearing $16.6 million under the NFL salary cap.

Wagner said he immediately heard from defensive tackle Aaron Donald and cornerback Jalen Ramsey, encouraging his interest in the Rams.

“At this point in my career, I wanted to be in a place where I was happy, and to be in a place that was close to home,” Wagner said. “I have family in Seattle, too, and being close to them was important to me.

“But then add on a winning organization, it was kind of a cherry on top.”

The Rams will be trying to be the first repeat champions in the Super Bowl since the 2003-04 New England Patriots. Wagner’s Seahawks came the closest of any team lately when they won after the 2013 season and threw away the following Super Bowl. He knows what it will take.

“I think what it takes to pull it off is just staying humble,” Wagner said. “I think sometimes when you win a championship, you forget that it was a grind to get to that championship. The faster you get to that grind, the faster you get back to work, I think that’s the biggest thing.

“You understand that, as the champions, you’re going to get everybody’s best shot. Everybody’s going to want to beat you every single week. You have to bring your best, your A-game, and as long the leaders are helping the young guys see that, there’s definitely the opportunity to do it.”

Wagner’s 10 years with the Seahawks ended bitterly with him angry about not hearing about his release directly from the team.

“It was easy to just pick up a phone and call. I shouldn’t have had to find out the way I found out,” Wagner said, while adding that he had been treated well by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, GM John Schneider and chair Jody Allen.

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By staying in the NFC West, Wagner will get to face the Seahawks every season.

“I’ll make sure they see me every time we play them. They’ll know where I’m at. It won’t be a quiet game for me,” Wagner said.

But that’s not why he signed with the Rams.

“A lot of people think that it entered into my decision, being able to play against the Seahawks,” Wagner said. “I don’t have that much hate in my heart. I really wanted to be happy, and I wanted to be close to home and stay on the West Coast.

“That was important to me.”