Pittsburgh Steelers refuse WR Mike Wallace deal talks until he joins training camp – NFL News
The deal talks between the Pittsburgh Steelers and wide receiver Mike Wallace’s representative has been stalled again due to the player's absence from the team’s training camp on Wednesday.
According a statement from coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers insist the player should have been at the camp to facilitate negotiation of a long-term deal and as sounded by the coach the progress will also depend on the player’s participation
in the training activity.
Irrespective of the demand for the player to show up, the Steelers cannot fine Mike, as according to the league’s rules a player has to be under a contract to be fined for the camp miss. Since Mike is on the franchise tender and the team
has missed the deadline of offering new deal to him, he remains safe from any punishment.
A section of media has cited anonymous sources claiming both sides had exchanged their proposals on the WR contract matter on past Monday and again were in a brief contact on Tuesday. There is no progress at all since then, and the issue
appears set to prolong as both sides have sounded to remain firm with their respective stances.
Tomlin said:
"Obviously, we have a desire for him to be here. We want him to be part of this thing, both short term and long term. We've been in negotiations with him. He's not here today. That's unfortunate for him."
He added:
"I want the player here. One thing experience has taught me is this is bigger than all of us. It's bigger than Mike, it's bigger than me. So I mean that when I say it's unfortunate for him that he's not here."
The situation has turned to be as bad as of Jacksonville Jaguars and Maurice Jones-Drew. The only difference between his deal request and Wallace’s is that the former is under a contract and the latter on a franchise tag.
Wallace has missed the entire offseason programme of the Steelers and has shown determination against training while being on the franchise tender. Now the Steelers are expecting the player to make the camp-move first. It seems unlikely
that both sides find a common ground in the near future.
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