Pittsburgh Steelers WR Mike Wallace holds out of workout to press for long-term hefty deal-NFL News
Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver, Mike Wallace, who is a restricted free agent, has decided to continue pressing his demand for a long-term and expensive deal from the team and as a protest is said not to be signing his first-round tender.
It is pertinent to point out here that the player may well be on the course of losing $2.1 million from the current value, $2.7 million, of his tender.
In case Wallace does not sign the tender by June 15, 2012, Steelers’ management will have the option to cut his tender price to $577,500. Most importantly, the team will still maintain the exclusive rights for the player.
So all in all, Wallace’s choice of sitting outside the ring on the fence might prove too costly to him at the end and in that case he will certainly lose more than achieving any benefit out of his protest.
Mike had the deadline of Friday, April 20, 2012, to attract another buyer in the free agency and now the player has a choice to either sign the tender and participate in the offseason activities or lose more than 75 percent of his tender value.
If Wallace continues to hold himself out of the entire offseason workout and does not sign the tender, which so far he has indicated to, he is going to miss the training camp of the team this summer.
Some sections of media have quoted anonymous sources claiming that Wallace has said he will not sign the tender “unless he has to” and in such a scenario it looks he is going to add to his difficulties in the future.
Steelers’ president, Art Rooney II, had earlier hinted at locking in the player on a long-term deal, but somehow that measure is yet to be taken. The player, in the meantime, has been assigned the first-round tender.
Given the amount of somewhere around $120 million that the player is demanding for his desired eight-year deal and the team’s ongoing salary cap issue, it is least likely that the player will win a hefty deal.
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