Pittsburgh Steelers Could Face Life Without Mike Wallace
By Matt Shetler
It’s one thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers to wisely allow an unproductive Hines Ward walk away as his career has pretty much come to an end. In football terms, bringing Ward back doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. His numbers have decreased since the middle of the 2009 season and for the little production he’s offered of late, it makes more football sense to spend that money in other areas.
While that’s one problem facing the Steelers’ offseason, it’s another problem all together if Pro-Bowl wide receiver Mike Wallace walks away as well.
It could happen.
Wallace is a restricted free agent and even though the Steelers have the right to match any offer sheet Wallace would sign, it’s very possible they won’t be financially able to do so.
Teams like the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams and Cincinnati Bengals are way under the salary cap for next season, while the Steelers currently sit $11 million over the cap.
To compare to a team like Cincinnati, the Bengals are over $60 under the cap and could put themselves into position to not only improve their club, but hurt a division rival in the process.
Wallace will receive a qualifying offer from the Steelers, but that will be nowhere near what other teams will attempt to sign him for.
Beginning March 13, any team will be able to make an offer to Wallace provided that the star wide receiver hasn’t already signed the offer sheet given to him by the Steelers.
If a team makes an offer to Wallace and the receiver accepts, the Steelers have a week to match the offer. Should they be unable to, Wallace would be free to sign with his new team and Pittsburgh will receive a draft pick as compensation — in the case of Wallace it’s likely to be a first and a third-round pick. But that changed as well with the new CBA and the most a team can get for losing an RFA is a first-round pick.
Despite new rules that allow teams to rollover cap space from the previous year, Pittsburgh is in a position where they may be unable to offer Wallace a competitive contract.
One option they do have is the ability to apply the franchise tag to Wallace. That would be very pricey, but they could keep him for one more season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Typically teams don’t consider using the franchise tag on restricted free agents, but the Steelers may not have a choice.
It’s also typical for teams to stay away from RFA’s with the price of losing a first and a third-round pick being very steep. But with only losing a first-round pick it may tempt a team picking late in the first-round to target a guy such as Wallace.
Would the Ravens (No. 29), San Francisco 49ers (No. 30) or Patriots (No. 31) conclude Wallace is a better option than the fourth or fifth rookie receiver in the draft? Probably. If that’s the case then it would definitely be worth the risk. Just look at the fact that Wallace could play out a five or six-year deal and still be productive enough to sign another contract.
There are ways for teams to put the Steelers in a position where they simply can’t match any offer to Wallace. Mainly,there is the ever creative roster bonus. All a team has to do is front load a lucrative contract where most of the deal is as a roster bonus that would count toward the 2012 cap. It’s a big one time hit for the team attempting to sign Wallace, but it’s something the Steelers couldn’t match.
So while free agency is still a little bit away, it could be a tough spring for the Steelers.
Priority No. 1 should be finding a way to lock up Wallace for the next few seasons, but they just might not be in a position to do so.
Follow City of Champions Sports on Twitter