The Buffalo Bills have agreed to terms today with unrestricted free agent wide receiver Stevie Johnson on a new five-year, $36.25 million contract with $19.5 million guaranteed, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. With that contract now in place, we now have a solid starting point for what Pittsburgh Steelers restricted free agent wide receiver Mike Wallace will be expecting as far as his new deal goes. The average year breakdown of the Johnson contract, which is very dangerous to use as a measuring stick until the full structure is released, comes to $7.25 million. In his first four seasons Read more [...]

Monday (correction that deadline is the 13th, not today) the deadline for restricted tenders to be issued around the league and while several eyes will be fixed on wide receiver Mike Wallace, and his expected first round tender, the Steelers two undrafted guards, Doug Legursky and Ramon Foster, will also be an interesting tender decision to watch as well. As Ed Bouchette pointed out on Saturday, with the cap room that the Steelers have right now, they could now decide to place second round tenders of $1.927 million on both Legursky and Foster instead of right of first refusal tenders on them Read more [...]

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Thursday morning that the Pittsburgh Steelers will not use the franchise tag on restricted free agent Mike Wallace should they not get him signed to a new contract in the next few days. The news comes as no surprise as the Steelers do not have the cap room to accommodate a projected $9.4 plus million franchise tag amount. The Steelers have been in talks with Wallace about trying to get a new deal done before the start of free agency and team president Art Rooney II said after the 2011 season ended that Wallace would be a priority to get resigned. It was announced Read more [...]

The 2012 NFL combine has come and gone and now the next key date on the 2012 NFL calendar for the Pittsburgh Steelers is March 5th, as that is the deadline for the restricted tenders and franchise tag to be issued. Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert told the media during his press conference at the combine that they were still waiting to hear what the official cap number will be for 2012, and that will dictate the moves that will need to be made to be cap compliant by March 13th. The team has already reportedly tendered Isaac Redman, Steve McLendon and Jeremy Kapinos, their three exclusive Read more [...]

The second part of the interview that Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert gave to SiriusXM NFL Radio centered around wide receiver Mike Wallace and his upcoming restricted free agency. Colbert was asked first his thoughts on Wallace in regards to his future and Colbert answered that by saying, "Mike, I don't even think he has scratched the surface. He is a great player. His deep speed is unmatched in this league. I feel very confident it saying that, but I know we want him to finish his career here. We know he can only get better and we know that he may draw some interest from Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert addressed the media today at the 2012 NFL combine and of course he was asked about restricted free agent wide receiver Mike Wallace. Colbert said the Steelers were going to do everything that they can do to keep Wallace with the Steelers. He told the media today that Wallace has the same goal as the Steelers do, and that is to get a deal done so that he remains in Pittsburgh. As far as the options that Colbert has in regards to a first round tender or the franchise tag, Colbert said that they have still not ruled out using the franchise, but Read more [...]

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 Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have started tendering a few of their free agents as punter Jeremy Kapinos reports via his Twitter feed that he has received his one-year tender. He stated in the tweet that he is excited and preparing to be a Steeler for another year. Kapinos signed back with the Steelers in early November after punter Daniel Sepulveda suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee. Kapinos also had replaced the injured Sepulveda in 2010 because of another knee injury suffered by Sepulveda. Kapinos was back with the Steelers in training camp this past season and was released during the final Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers restricted free agent Mike Wallace was interviewed by Adam Schein and Jim Miller on SiriusXM NFL Radio and was asked about several topics that included the change of offensive coordinators as well as his pending free agency situation. Wallace was asked if his mind wonders to thinking about the possibility of leaving the Steelers and signing with another team. Wallace replied, "Well the position that I am in, I'm always going to think about it sometimes because I have never been in this position before. So it's kind of hard to just not think about anything. So yeah, my mind Read more [...]

With the 2012 NFL combine getting started on Wednesday, I thought now would be the perfect time to give my gut feeling thoughts on what will happen with Pittsburgh Steelers restricted free agent wide receiver Mike Wallace. I have talked extensively about the options the Steelers have in regards to placing a first round tender or using the franchise tag on Wallace, but as I mentioned in the podcast last Friday, the best case solution is to just have him signed to a long term deal before having to use either of those on him. Using just a first round tender is mighty risky, even though it returns Read more [...]

Since my last post on Mike Wallace, as it relates to trying to protect him via free agency, I have had a few questions about how the Steelers can possibly fit Wallace underneath the cap by the start of the new league year if they indeed were to place the franchise tag of $9.4 million on him. Let's assume that the Steelers tender all of their other restricted free agents and exclusive free agents except for Jamon Meredith at the lowest levels, which I fully expect they will do, and assume they give Wallace the franchise tag that is estimated to be about $9.4 million. With the current players Read more [...]

We are closing in on the 2012 NFL combine as well as the beginning stages of the 2012 free agency process as franchise tags can start to be handed out by teams starting on Monday. Below is the 2012 NFL offseason calender as well as the projected franchise tag and tender amounts for the upcoming free agency period. 2012 NFL CALENDAR Feb. 20: First day to designate franchise/transition players. Feb. 22-28: 2012 NFL Scouting Combine. March 5: Clubs must have designated franchise/transition players by 4 p.m. eastern March 13: All 2011 player contracts expire at 4 p.m. eastern March Read more [...]

During the several interviews that Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert has given over the course of this week, the name of wide reciver Mike Wallace continues to pop up a lot in the questioning. Wallace of course is a restricted free agent, who at worst will receive a first round tender of around $2.742 million. That tender would allow the Steelers ability to match whatever offer sheet is given by another team that wants to sign Wallace or receive a first round draft pick from that team should they decide not to, or they can't match it. In one of his first interview this week, Colbert said Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert suggested on Monday that none of the team's remaining 10 unrestricted free agents will be re-signed before the free agency period begins on March 13th and while this news may sound out of the ordinary for some, it is really nothing out of the ordinary for them. The Steelers have made a practice over the years of tendering their restricted free agents that they want to keep and placing the franchise tag on their most notable unrestricted free agent that they want to keep. The only recent notable player that was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent that Read more [...]

The threat of the Pittsburgh Steelers losing restricted free agent Mike Wallace to another team because of a poison pill included in an offer sheet seems to be no more as Mike Florio reports today that he has been informed that the ability of one team to sign another player to an offer sheet that includes language that would qualify as a poison pill to the team that possible could lose the free agent is no more. The most famous example of this of course was several years ago with Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson as Florio points out in the post. I assume Florio is referring to Article 9 Section Read more [...]