What an offseason...
Steelers have lost five veteran leaders this spring to retirement, release or greener pastures in Hines Ward, James Farrior, Aaron Smith, William Gay and Chris Hoke. Now they are also facing something that maybe should have been expected: Mike Wallace is threatening a "holdout".
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the free agent waters...
Oh, and there's a new offensive coordinator (replacing someone else who "retired") to boot. Welcome aboard Todd Haley and good luck - you're gonna need it. Seriously, getting an easy early schedule was never more important than this year.
Honestly, I swear I blogged about this before, 30+ days ago, but I need to say it again: Mike Wallace will be the number one wide receiver come opening day. Period.
There’s no sign that another team is going to offer Mike Wallace a contract before the deadline. In fact, though the deadline is April 20th, if nothing is offered by the 14th, there WILL BE NO OFFER.
Unfortunately, that isn’t moving Wallace any closer to signing his tender from the Steelers, either.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on NFL Live Wednesday that Wallace has no plans to sign his tender, which would pay him $2.74 million, and will sit out the team’s offseason training activities (OTAs) if he doesn’t get a new deal. He reported that the Steelers and Wallace's representatives have had a hard time coming to an equal footing on a new contract.
There's one problem with this: Wallace needs this year to become an unrestricted free agent after next season. So, again, he will play!
What are Wallace's options (assuming the two sides can't hammer out a long-term deal)? To sit out and pout throughout OTAs and then tuck tail as he goes into camp to sign the tender. That's it. That's the list. So, whoever is giving him this bad advice *coughBusCookcough* needs to stop it.
Let me reiterate: there is NO chance Wallace sits out the season.
Like I've said before, he's a divo wide receiver who wants to be paid. He won't be paid sitting out. Like David Todd said on Twitter, "@hammerspeaks: He may think he's worth a lot more than $2.74M, but he ain't walkin away from it." Real talk!
Ken Laird, Steelers beat writer, pointed out that he only needs six games accrued this season to become an unrestricted free agent.
Yeah...the Rooneys would love that: come back just in time for the playoffs like everything is honky dorey? Uh-huh...ok.
As I've said before, back away from the ledge, Wallace WILL play this year. After that...Wes Lyons is 6'8", right?
No comments:
Post a Comment