I had a feeling that it would not be too long before Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace chimed in on his pending free agency and he finally did today on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Was I surprised by the comments made by Wallace today during his interview with Adam Schein and Jim Miller? Absolutely not. I would have been more surprised had he said anything different than what he did. Remember that his agent is Bus Cook and this his not his first rodeo when it comes to contract negotiations.
Wallace was asked the full gamut of questions by both Schein and Miller as it relates to him potentially ending up having to leave the Steelers for another team and he answered them in classic posturing manner. He maintained that he wants to return to Pittsburgh if at all possible, but accepted the reality that he could end up elsewhere. What else did you really expect him to say?
The timing of the interview is not surprising either with the 2012 NFL combine starting today. You can bet that some of the buzz talk going on this week in Indianapolis will not only be about the draft hopefuls, but will include current players such as Wallace. How can it not?
The good news from Wallace today is that we got the confirmation that the two sides have indeed been in talks about a new contract and as I pointed out again on Tuesday evening, that is the best possible solution to the Steelers problems.
The Steelers have until March 5th to place a first round restricted tender or the franchise tag on Wallace and that is still over a week away. There is plenty of time for negotiations this week at the combine. The Steelers brass will certainly be there and one would think that Cook would be there as well.
In my heart of hearts I still believe a deal gets worked out before March 5th, if not, I would expect Wallace to be tendered at a first round level and not the franchise tag.
