Report: Vikings expected to battle Dolphins for Mike Wallace

[hawaiiansteel]

Talking Points: All signs point to Miami Dolphins landing WR Mike Wallace

by Ben Volin

All signs point to Dolphins landing Mike Wallace.

The Dolphins have made little secret of their desire to upgrade their receiver corps for next season and surround Ryan Tannehill with better weapons. And a lot of the talk has focused on Mike Wallace, who is the youngest (26), fastest and arguably the best receiver available in free agency.

The Dolphins can’t sign Wallace until 4 p.m. Tuesday, but all signs point to him landing in Miami, perhaps minutes after the new league year begins tomorrow. For example:

* There’s Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, stating this morning in his MMQB column that “Miami didn’t have much, if any, competition for a big-money deal ($11 million or more a year) for wide receiver Mike Wallace.”

* ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeting this morning, “League-wide expectation is that WR Mike Wallace winds up in Miami with the Dolphins.”

* USA Today’s Mike Garafolo reporting that the Dolphins spent the weekend “courting receivers” and “the team expects to put forth an offer that will be in Wallace’s price range.” Garafolo also mentions St. Louis Rams WR Brandon Gibson as a target of the Dolphins, and this report jibes with our report from the Combine, that the Dolphins were active in meeting with several receivers two weeks ago.

Now we’ll add our own two cents: We hear from someone we trust that it’s a “done deal” that Wallace will be signing with Miami.

Assuming it does come to fruition, Wallace will be the Dolphins’ first big signing since 2010, when they traded for Brandon Marshall and gave him a $48 million contract, and signed LB Karlos Dansby and gave him $43 million.

Wallace, who has 32 touchdowns over four NFL seasons with Pittsburgh, would give the Dolphins the speedy deep threat they sorely lacked last season.

“He’ll translate well to that offense,” former longtime NFL executive Bill Polian said this morning on ESPN. “Brian Hartline is a possession receiver. Davone Bess is a possession receiver. They need Mike Wallace, or someone like him.”

And it appears that very soon, the Dolphins will have him.

[URL]http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2013/03/11/talking-points-all-sign-point-to-miami-dolphins-landing-wr-mike-wallace/[/URL]

[Sugar]

Wallace is going to be overpaid, no question about it. But lets not pretend that the Steelers are adequately prepared for his departure. Sanders has yet to demonstrate that he is a starting caliber WR. He is an ok #3 but Brown is the only legit starting WR on the team, and he profiles better as a #2.

Agreed. It would have been better if we were able to keep Wallace. Economics won't let us, but with the expected losses on Defense we would have been better served to have Wallaces services to help pick up the scoring slack. I'm sure that the FO will figure things out, but not having one of the starting WR's, a starting caliber RB or a starting caliber TE to start the year makes me a bit nervous for the year.

[hawaiiansteel]

Vikings offered Mike Wallace richer contract, dad says

By Chris Wesseling
Around the League Writer
Published: March 28, 2013

The Miami Dolphins handed Mike Wallace the richest contract among this year's free agents, good for $27 million in guarantees and $60 million over five years.

To hear Wallace's father tell it, the speedy wide receiver's pay day could have been even higher. Mike Wallace Jr. claims his son actually turned down more money from the Minnesota Vikings. The St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks were among the teams that also showed interest, according to Wallace's dad.

A native of New Orleans, Wallace has had designs on heading south since the Pittsburgh Steelers neglected to meet his long-term contract demands last offseason.

"The (Vikings) had come to the point where they were telling him, 'You don't have to live here, just be here during the season,' " Wallace's dad recently told The Miami Herald. "He wanted to get out of that snow and cold weather."

The mutual attraction between Wallace and the Dolphins was the worst-kept secret heading into the free agency period.

Having traded Percy Harvin, the Vikings immediately sprang into action as a competitor for Wallace. NFL.com's Jeff Darlington reported at the time that the Dolphins fully expected to be bidding against a Vikings team willing to go to $13 million per year.

The end result was a perfect storm for Wallace, with the receiver-needy Vikings driving up his price tag on the warm-weather Dolphins.

[URL]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000155184/article/mike-wallace-reportedly-turned-down-more-money-from-vikings[/URL]