Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver Mike Wallace Will Not Get the Contract That He Is Seeking, and Should Just Sign the Tender Offered to Him

So far, this offseason, no team has offered Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace a contract. The restricted free agent was offered a tender by the Steelers worth a little over $2.7 million, but Wallace has thus far refused to sign it.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said ESPN reported, “that Wallace will not participate in any spring workouts unless he and the team come to terms on a multiple-year contract.”

Bouchette also stated that the three-year veteran out of Ole Miss will be unable to sign with another team once the deadline of April 20^th passes, and that he will only have the choice of a long-term deal or signing the tender with the Steelers.

In the meantime, Pittsburgh’s front office is making sure that everything else is in place offensively just in case the Pro Bowl receiver somehow doesn’t return to the Steelers for the 2012 NFL season.

Veteran receiver Jerricho Cotchery re-signed with the team with a two-year contract worth over $3 million dollars. In addition, Pittsburgh signed their first free agent of the offseason. Tight end Leonard Pope, who previously played for Steelers new offensive coordinator Todd Haley with the Arizona Cardinals and the Kansas City Chiefs, signed a one-year deal on Tuesday.

This stalemate between Wallace and the Steelers has gone on long enough. I will say that Wallace is probably one of the top ten receivers in the league right now, and his production of his first three years in the league has steadily inclined. However, Mike Wallace is just a deep threat receiver that greatly compliments fellow receivers Cotchery, Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.

The amount of money that Wallace is seeking isn’t equal to what he does on the field. Wallace is one of the best downfield treats in the NFL right now, but as far as the other attributes that makes a great receiver, he has a lot of work to do. Therefore, Wallace should sign the tender and prove to the Steelers that he can be a well-rounded receiver so that he can get the Larry Fitzgerald/Calvin Johnson contract that he wants.

 

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