No other choice for WR Hines Ward than to leave Pittsburgh Steelers-NFL News
Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver, Hines Ward, has no option other than to leave the headquarters following confirmation of his release by the team in a few weeks.
A day after the management told the player he would be released well before the start of 2012 National Football League (NFL) season, reports have emerged claiming that he was not offered a pay cut option.
The move has come against the player’s wishes of playing more football for the team. He also offered negotiating fresh terms and might have agreed to work for lesser financial benefits.
Steelers had earlier denied if they had decided the player’s waiver, but did not deny it to be the possibility in the future and Ward was later told that he would be leaving the team sometime during the offseason.
In a bid to part ways with the player, the team did not offer him any other option, which could have possibly worked out for both parties.
Ward had two years left in his contract with Steelers and was due to make $8 million during the period.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are facing the salary cap issue and have taken measures to cut down over expenditures on the players. In the pursuit, they have cut four players so far.
After the disappointing exit from the Steelers, Ward is now determined to find another team off the free agency, but has fewer chances of succeeding.
Irrespective to his displeasure over his departure from Pittsburgh, Ward has been praised by his Steelers’ mates for his contribution towards the team and the game of football during his career.
Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers’ veteran quarterback, said of the player:
"Hines is Black and Gold. I see him and wonder what it'll be like for me late in my career, things like that. It's hard. Two of my favourite players growing up, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, they're still 49ers. Hines will always be a Steeler."
Similar views have been expressed by other players, especially those who have played with him since his joining of the team in 1998.
In spite of having remained impressive early on in his career, the player’s form had gone down in the later part.
Ward was restricted to limited participation by the team in the later part of 2011 NFL season and an uncertainty around his future had started emerging since then.
Some sections of media claimed a couple of weeks earlier that Ward’s release from the team had become inevitable, and in spite of a strong reaction from him, he was confirmed to be let go.
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