There’s no sign that another team is going to offer Mike Wallace a contract before the deadline to sign restricted free agents passes on April 20th, but that isn’t moving Wallace closer to signing his tender from the Steelers.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on NFL Live Wednesday that Wallace has no plans to sign his tender, which would pay him $2.742 million, and will sit out the team’s offseason activities if he doesn’t get a new deal. Per Schefter, the two sides have had a hard time finding common ground on a new contract, which sets the stage for a long absence if Wallace goes through with this course of action.
It’s not a tactic that has met with much success in the past since teams know players need to eventually report to work in order to accrue the last year they need to become unrestricted free agents. We’re a long way off from that point, but it is the biggest piece of leverage that teams have in these standoffs.
For the Steelers, any deal they might reach with Wallace has bigger ramifications as well. Antonio Brown will be a restricted free agent next year and anything they do with Wallace will become the starting point for any negotiations with Brown.
