Mike Wallace Not Reporting To Steelers Training Camp Anytime Soon?

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the deal for WR Antonio Brown practically assured that Wallace will not show up for training camp, unless he has one big change of heart.

Brown’s contract might affect their dealings with Wallace, after Brown signed a new six-year, $42.5 million contract extension, and the deal makes it highly unlikely that Wallace will get anywhere near what he wants in a long term deal with the Steelers.

If Wallace makes it clear he will not sign the offer sheet, the team could allow teams to talk to Wallace and his agent in order to see if they can work out terms of a contract. If so, that team could then try to work a trade with the Steelers. And if they could agree on that, Wallace could sign the one-year tender and then be traded.

If the team can’t work out a trade with another team, however, Wallace would have no choice but to sign the offer sheet, play out the season, and try to have another stand out year and prepare for unrestricted free agency next March. Holding out into the season will not enhance his value nor help him get the extension he desires.

There are several options to put an end to the stalemate with Wallace, and the least likely of those is the team signing him to a long term deal. We will see how this plays out the next few weeks.

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Ed Werder of ESPN reports that Steelers GM Kevin Colbert has informed him that they have no plans to trade WR Mike Wallace, despite the fact that he appears to be willing to holdout for a new contract.

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Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Mike Wallace is actually looking for a deal similar to that of Vincent Jackson’s $55 million contract that includes $26 million in guarantees.

It was previously reported that Wallace was targeting Larry Fitzgerald‘s massive contract that totaled $120 million. This could actually increase interest in Wallace from prospective teams and help the Steelers secure a better draft in return for him, assuming that they’re even willing to trade him in the first place.

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Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets that he would “not be surprised if Steelers trade Mike Wallace during training camp.”

Dulac adds that the Steelers called Antonio Brown‘s agent Drew Rosenhaus just hours after Wallace chose to skip the team’s start of training camp. It reportedly only took two days finalize a long-term agreement with Brown.

• Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Wallace actually turned down an offer in the five-year, $50 million range.
• Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette guesstimates that Steelers would only be able to secure a fourth-round pick for Wallace based on the fact that no team was interested in parting with a first-round pick months ago and because Santonio Holmes only netted them a fifth-round pick. Bouchette adds that he actually thinks that the Steelers would consider taking a fourth-round pick at this point in time.

One of the main reasons why team’s were reluctant to sign Wallace away from the Steelers wasn’t so much the first-round pick, but once you’ve acknowledged that you’re willing to give up that draft pick in return for Wallace, you still have to sign him to a long-term extension and Wallace and his agent, who were reportedly seeking a massive contract, end up with a ton of leverage because you’ve already committed to parting with a first-round pick.

Considering that Wallace is going to be a free agent at the end of the season, team’s will almost certainly be unwilling to part with a reasonable amount of compensation for a player who’s looking for that kind of deal and will walk at the end of the season. Wallace still needs another accrued season to qualify for unrestricted free agency, so the Steelers could allow him to miss some games before he’s forced to re-join them. It’s either that or trade him for a modest draft pick.

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According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, there won’t be a contract extension for Steelers WR  Mike Wallace now that they’ve signed Antonio Brown to a five-year deal worth $42.5 million.

Pittsburgh has limited cap space to work with next year, so even the franchise tag is a bit of a question mark at this point in time. Wallace still needs another NFL season to qualify for unrestricted free agency, so it seems likely that his holdout will end when it has to and he’ll ultimately sign his restricted tnder worth $2.742 million.

There’s a chance that the Steelers could actually trade him before the start of the season, but that’s purely speculative. We have  Wallace listed as the No. 6 best available free agent in our Top 50 Free Agents list.

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Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives us an update on the situation with Mike Wallace, and things between the WR and the Steelers are starting to get ugly.  The Steelers have reportedly suspended negotiations with Wallace until he signs the 1 year, $2.4M tender.  Per the article:

“We’ve chosen to not progress with negotiations at this point,” Colbert said Thursday. “Once we made that decision, now we’re in a different mode. We’ll have to address any new negotiations if we get to that point.”

Wallace seems determined to follow through on his decision to hold out, but the Steelers have long had a policy about not negotiating with veteran hold-outs.  This story may get uglier before cooler heads prevail.

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Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Steelers are likely to suspend contract negotiations with WR Mike Wallace, now that he’ll likely skip at least a portion of the team’s training camp.

Wallace would make $2.472 million for the upcoming season, but he still needs another year of experience to be eligible for unrestricted free agency next year. Pittsburgh has some leverage in that regard, but not having Wallace in camp could hurt his performance when and if he shows up.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Steelers and Mike Wallace are “not close at this time.”

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Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets that he’s been “hearing rumblings” that the Steelers are close to signing WR Mike Wallace.

Yesterday, there was a report that mentioned that the two sides had come to agreement on a five-year, but that proved to be false, or at least a little premature. As of now, Wallace figures to skip the team’s training camp until he has a long-term contract in place, so the Steelers are obviously working to prevent that from happening. It’s hard to say if a deal will get done in the coming days, but it’s certainly a possibility.