Mike Wallace: Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert Hopeful Team Can Retain WR

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert spoke to the media on Thursday at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, and the discussion was heavy on the talk of keeping wide receiver Mike Wallace on the roster.

After the announcement that the team successfully restructured the contract of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (for the second time in as many seasons), saving it $8 million, the Steelers are very near or at the salary cap figure for 2012, which is projected to be anywhere between $120 and $124 million.

However, to retain Wallace for 2012, the Steelers still need more money. The franchise tag figure for wide receivers this year is $9.4 million, meaning that the team will have to both restructure more contracts and cut current players to have enough cash to franchise Wallace and pay its rookies.

Despite things still looking bleak—albeit less so than just two weeks ago, when the Steelers were around $30 million over the cap—Colbert is still confident that it's not a foregone conclusion Wallace won't stay with the team.

Colbert said the team will do "everything we can to make sure Mike Wallace remains a Steeler," and though he said it is unlikely that they will be able to use the franchise tag on him, they're still waiting for the exact salary-cap number before completely ruling it out.

That means Wallace would probably get a contract offer instead of being tagged, though the first-round restricted free-agent tender (worth $3.7 million) is still a real possibility as well.

Should Wallace receive the RFA tender, he would be offered contracts from interested teams; if he accepts one of them, the Steelers would receive that team's first-round 2012 draft pick as compensation.

Keeping Wallace on the team is the Steelers' top offseason priority. They're closer than they were two weeks ago from making that happen, but there's still much work to do before his staying on the roster in 2012 and beyond is guaranteed.

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