I know Im going to get killed for this, but:

Should the Steelers really want to keep Mike Wallace?

Before you tell me what an idiot I am, let me say that I realize Mike Wallaces talent. He's been a great player and has a long career ahead of him where he should only get better. And yes, I'd LOVE for the Steelers to keep him.

But this ain't Madden and everything has a cost. And Im beginning to think that the cost just might be too high considering that there are other more economical options available.

Given the 4 recent WR contracts over the last 24 hours...Johnson @ $18M/yr, Wayne @ $6M/yr, Morgan @ $6M/yr, and Garcon @ $8.5/yr... Wallace is going to want (and probably deserve thanks to the Foreskins overpaying for 2 mediocre WRs) upwards of $10M/yr. Im starting to think that the smarter option would be to go after Burress and Cotchery, and look to extend Brown early. Plax played for the Jets last year for $3M. Unless Moss makes the Pro Bowl in Frisco, thats probably what hes going to make for the 49ers this year. I'd be willing to bet that the Steelers could get Burress for $3M/yr for 2 years. Cotchery made league minimum last year (800K). He could probably be had for 1.5M-2M/yr for 3 years. Assuming $2M/yr for Cotchery, that leaves an additional $5M/yr for the next 2 years to extend Brown.

Going this route, for the same money as you would pay Wallace, you could have Burress, Brown, and Cotchery for the two next years. Plus you would avoid the headache of going through this all over again with Brown in 2013. Granted, it may not be as good and talented as Wallace, Brown, and Sanders would be for one year, but your WR core would be pretty damn good and stable for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

At this point, Im starting to hope that someone makes an offer for Wallace that the Steelers can't match.

 

Should they want to? Yes, that goes without saying.
Should they mortgage our future to hold on to him? No, that goes without saying.

Do I want them to keep Wallace? Yep. He's part of a great receiving corps. But if the front office decides that his salary demands are excessive, and they let him go and we get a first round pick, I won't question them. I have a lot more faith in our coaching staff and front office than most.

 

Agree 100%.

And thats what Im saying. Im starting to think that its going to be outrageous (especially given the circumstances) to keep Wallace. Its going to be 10+M/yr.

Maybe if Brown and Sanders weren't on the roster, I'd feel differently. Maybe if Cotchery and Plex weren't available, I'd feel differently. Maybe if the Steelers had $49M in cap space like the Bengals, I'd feel differently.

But they don't.

 

There is this one free agent...I think his name is Hines Ward....maybe we could grab him too.

 

Go after Cotchery... yes.

Go after Burress... no.

The FO simply won't pay silly money for Wallace, so I tihnk it's a non-issue. If they did do that sort of thing, we'd have hung on to Rod Woodson or Yancey Thigpen (realise that's going a bit far back, but it's late and my immediate memory seems to be lodged in the 1990's).

 

steelers will pay wallace 7,5 milion a year at best

 

Nice breakdown and very similar to what I have been saying the whole time.......We simply have to many holes to fill and not enough cash to do it.....

I have some doubts about Wallace in the future ,but he is worth 8 Mil a year right now IMO....Anything more is just to much and is exactly the reason he doesn't have a deal already from us....If his magic # is 10 plus then I know we need to go another route...We could have got enough money together to tag him ,but it sinply wasn't a smart move overall....

 

The Eagles just signed Deshaun Jackson for $10M/yr....5 years, $51M.

Thats his price. $10M year. At least.

 

Yes and I think he could be had pretty easily and relatively cheap compared to Wallace.

 

Why's this even an issue? If Wallace doesn't get an offer from another team and he wants crazy money for a long term deal the Steelers aren't willing to pay won't that simply mean that he's still a Steeler for at least another year at the $2.7M tender they offered him ?

 

He could sit out and be a major headache.

Ultimately he will have to play for that, but he has the option to be a disruption.

 

If no one makes him an offer, then the Steelers hold the cards... Because would he want to play for a year at $2.7M wait a year before making the really big bucks? What if he gets hurt? What if he has a down season? Lots of things could go wrong, and he could cost himself $10 million or more. If he wants the big big money guarenteed, then he'll have to sign his long-term contract with us now, and that's when we hold the cards. We can drive the price down some.

He could hit the bank now for $50 million or whatever, or he could wait a year and go for more, but he'd be risking it all in the meantime. It might not be an easy decision, but I'm sure he's not stupid and will want to make sure he gets his. Signing this year is the only sure way to do that.

Think about the franchise tag. It gives guys $10 million or so right away! But players still don't like to get franchised because it postpones the long-term contract worth even more money. And that could disappear if they get hurt, or if their new QB sucks, or whatever. They usually put up with the franchise, though, because it's so much for one year. $2.7 million is a different story, and he might not be so willing to put up with it.

 

No issue at this point and time,,,,,,,but next year it becomes a huge issue if no one offers him a sheet this season......And it's not if he wants to get paid it's how much??

So next year we are in a worse position either way...Either he has a great year and he wants more than he does now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,or he has a bad year and we can't get the same value we might get now...

So the real issue is if he won't sign this year the situation gets no better next year..I think that's the issue and that's without adding Brown ans Sanders to the mix....

 

Not a huge difference, but NFL Network says it's 5 years, $48.5 million. 'Bout $9.5M per year.

 

Well I don't want the Steelers to mortgage their future or overpay Wallace, but if they somehow lose him, we are in deep $#%^. Teams will then double Brown and Sanders can't stay healthy and Cotchery isn't the answer as a solid 2 reciever. Kevin Colbert was on record saying they want and will do whatever it takes to keep Wallace, I guess we will have to wait and see. If they lose him, in my opinion to the Pats, then watch Wallace and Brady have a year like Brady and Moss with 50 TD passes for Brady and 21 or whatever recieving TD's for Moss. Offensively, we couldn't compete with that and defensively we will probably have a hard time covering it.

 

Whether they like it or not, the Steelers will eventually have to pay Wallace the market rate or let him go. And the market rate looks like more than $9MM/hr.

Either someone will make an offer,probably in that range and the Steelers will have to match it or watch him walk. Or he'll take the $2.7M tender, and get this $9-10M/yr next year, or they'll sign him to a longer term deal in that range.

A couple of weeks ago, Stevie Johnson got $36-7MM for 5 yrs, ~ $7.5MM/yr. Wallace is better than him. And the deals that last few days made his price go up.

 

Knowing the Steelers, they will not knee jerk the situation.

Calm down...its business.

Sad, but the going rate is what someone is willing to pay, period. Steelers will NOT pay Wallace 10mil/year so don't even worry about it. If someone wants to pay him 10 large, then so be it. He is not worth it, period.

No one should get their panties in a wad over this. The Steelers have been able to plug and play before and this is just a similar situation. You already have two decent, not great, WR's. If they stay healthy, they will only get better. Cotch is an option. Wallace probably aint going no where and if he turns out to be a sour puss about his salary compared to what the other guys are getting, it will be preceived thru the league that he is a problem and no one wants that tag going into unrestricted FA. Conversely, you want a killer season so you can break the bank in FA.

So, it is a two edged sword for Wallace. Take what the Steelers offer and play yo ass off and then try the wheel of fortune next year, or take the Steelers tender, pout all season, and take yo crybaby face to the wheel of fortune with only say 5 TD's and about 600 yards. Hah, then let's see the teams line up to pay him 10 large.

Relax. It is out of our control. Rest assured, the Steelers will not be stupid and throw gobs of cash at Wallace just because the Jone's are spending stupidly down the street.

rutan

 

we could have franchised him for 9.4 mil.. noway they pay him that much nor should they. what they better do though is lock up brown and sanders this year.

 

Per ESPN The Jaguars and Laurent Robinson agreed to a five-year, $32.5 million contract Wednesday evening. The deal includes $14 million guaranteed. Even marginal 800 yrd WR's are garnering big bucks. Not good for those of us wishing for Wallace to stay.