Sources: Mike Wallace likely to stay
Updated: April 19, 2012, 10:05 AM ET
ESPN.com news services
With Steelers restricted free-agent wide receiver Mike Wallace facing a Friday deadline to sign an offer sheet with another team, it now is expected that he will return to Pittsburgh for the 2012 season, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
No team has made a significant run yet at Wallace, and it is not expected that one will, sources told Schefter.
Last month, sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton that the Steelers had made a one-year offer to Wallace worth a first-round tender -- meaning any team signing Wallace to an offer sheet would have to part with a first-round pick.
If Wallace does not sign his tender -- worth a reported $2.7 million -- by June 15, the Steelers can reduce it to 110 percent of last year's salary and still retain his rights.
Steelers team president Art Rooney II has said the team wants to sign Wallace to a multiyear contract.
Last month, The Sacramento Bee reported that the San Francisco 49ers inquired about Wallace during the first week of free agency, but did not pursue him because he was seeking a contract in excess of the eight-year, $120 million contract Larry Fitzgerald signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
Wallace caught 72 passes for 1,193 yards and eight passing touchdowns last season, all team highs. In three seasons, he has 171 catches for 3,206 yards and 24 TDs.
Information from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter and ESPN.com AFC North writer Jamison Hensley was used in this report
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