The Mike Wallace dilemma continues for the Steelers, and while many (me included) have written off him coming back to the black and gold in 2012, GM Kevin Colbert said at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday in Indy that the team is going to work hard to get Wallace back for 2012 and beyond.
“We want Mike to finish his career with the Steelers and we’re pretty sure he wants to end his career [with the] Steelers,” Colbert told reporters. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that Mike Wallace remains a Pittsburgh Steeler and I think that’s Mike’s belief as well. Usually when you have two parties that share the same goal, it’s easier to achieve that goal.”
Wallace stated that he and his agent, Bus Cook, are chatting with the Steelers about a deal, but at the same time said that he wants to get paid after three very good seasons with the Steelers.
“Yeah, we are talking, but I don`t know how far they are going to get right now because of the situation,” Wallace said. “I know that they are working hard trying to take care of it, but I don`t know. We`ll see.”
Colbert Thursday didn’t say how the Steelers are going to try to do things to keep Wallace around, but the best bet is to think they are going to put a $ 2.7 million first-round tender on the wide out, this way if another team makes a huge offer the Steelers can’t match, they will get that teams first round pick this season.
You could look at it this way though, the Steelers may actually be thinking about putting the whopping $ 9.4 million franchise tag on Wallace. If they do that, it will pretty much be a for sure that he will be back in 2012, but at the same time, the team will have to make some rather drastic moves as they will be even more over the salary cap.
Bottom line, the Steelers have until March 5th to decide whether to put the tag on Wallace and until March 13th to get under the salary cap. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks as they try to get something done with their speedy wide out.
Source: Steelers Gab
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