Pittsburgh Steelers hope WR Mike Wallace deal-related protest a short-term misery -NFL News
Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping that their wide receiver, Mike Wallace’s holdout from organised team activities (OTAs) would be a short-term problem.
Wallace is skipping OTAs, which started from Tuesday, May 22, in protest of his demand for a long-term expensive deal from the team.
Steelers’ coach, Mike Tomlin, who noted the absence of the WR on the first day of OTAs, hopes that the player’s absence does not affect their plans.
Tomlin said:
"It'll be over, a little bit of short-term misery. It won't be significant in the big scheme of things hopefully."
Even more concerned about Wallace was Steelers' new offensive coach, Todd Haley, who was out on the field for the first time last Tuesday.
Irrespective of Wallace’s concern, Haley’s approach did not impress the team’s offensive players. Veteran quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, was particularly frustrated.
Amid the situation, Wallace’s decision to sit out may not help him at all, given the new OC has a quite different style of training than their former coach, Bruce Arians.
Wallace is reported to have taken Haley's playbook with him.
This indicates that he will most likely be familiar with the rules when he comes back.
Steelers' other receiver, Antonio Brown, said of Wallace:
"He's going to be studying, so when he comes he knows (the plays)."
The skip of an offseason workout activity is not new for Wallace.
He has often done this in the past, preferring to workout in his home town in California.
However, the cause of the skip is different this year.
Although Steelers have agreed to land him a new deal, they have not said anything regarding his demand for a substantial pay raise.
The team has assigned him a one-year restricted free agent tender of worth $2.7 million, which he has so far refused to sign. He has a deadline of June 14 to sign it.
Steelers are allowed to slash the value of his tender from the above date, but they have not said anything about the move so far.
There is optimism in the team that he will sign the tender, most probably on the last day, to avoid losing the payout.
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