Pittsburgh Steelers: The Latest News About the Future of WR Mike Wallace

The chances of wide receiver Mike Wallace remaining with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012 and beyond are looking slimmer each day.

While the team has worked over the past two weeks to try to improve their salary-cap situation, and still has a number of moves to make, it still doesn't look likely they'll be able to either extend him a long-term offer or use the franchise tag on him in the offseason.

As of now, the Steelers are around $10 million over the projected salary cap, and as much as $15 million over. To franchise Wallace in their current situation would mean another $9.4 million.

Even if they can restructure the salaries of linebacker James Harrison and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger while cutting a number of other relatively expensive veterans, it still may not provide the team with enough cash to retain Wallace via contract or franchise tag and still have enough left over to pay their rookie class.

This means the Steelers will have to use a first-round, restricted-free-agent tender on him and hope they don't find themselves outbid for his services—a gamble they aren't likely to win.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette doesn't see this situation to be as gloomy as many of the team's fans do. He argues that Wallace isn't worth the $9.4 million the franchise tag would pay him, nor would he be worth that amount yearly in a long-term contract.

Bouchette notes Wallace's 2011 season, in which he appeared on pace for 1,600 receiving yards, based on his performance in the first half of the season. By the second half, however, Wallace's production dropped.

Bouchette wonders if this has to do with defenses figuring out the best way to stop him—that is, forcing him to run inside, making sure he is double-covered and keeping a safety deep.

Wallace is generally an outside runner whose speed allows him to outrun seemingly every defender when he's running go routes. Inside, however, he struggles against coverage.

Head coach Mike Tomlin has mentioned a number of times that Wallace needs to be a more multidimensional receiver, and the fact that he hasn't seemed to develop into one makes it less of a hit to the team if Wallace were to move on—at least from Bouchette's estimation.

Bouchette makes a valid point here. While Wallace has been effective in his three seasons, his limitations have become increasingly more apparent, while fellow receiver Antonio Brown has ascended to become the team's No. 2 receiver and bigger all-around threat.

Brown will find himself in the same situation next offseason that Wallace is in now, and perhaps the Steelers are more willing to part ways with Wallace this year than to lose the more versatile Brown in the next.

Needless to say, the combination of Brown and Wallace on the field made the Steelers' passing offense one of the most deadly in the league in 2011, and losing Wallace will drastically alter how the Steelers approach their offensive game plan in 2012.

The gamble could pay off for the team, however, if Wallace truly wants to remain in Pittsburgh. Wallace is under no obligation to sign any contracts offered by other teams and could instead choose the nearly $4 million he'd get in a one-year tender from Pittsburgh.

But, as it stands now, it's going to take some serious financial jiu-jitsu for the Steelers to both afford to keep Wallace, as well as stay under the salary cap. It's not an ideal situation for the team to lose their top wideout, but as long as they keep the possibility in mind, they will have time to adapt accordingly.

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