Pittsburgh Steelers: All Quiet on the Mike Wallace Front, but for How Long?

The early free agency run on wide receivers both helps and harms the Pittsburgh Steelers' chances of retaining restricted free agent Mike Wallace, who received a $2.75 million first-round tender from the team officially on Tuesday.

On one hand, the contracts meted out to some of the top free-agent receivers sets the tone for whatever deal an interested team would have to give him. On the other hand, some of the most financially-well off teams with receiver needs are yet to make additions, which means the risk is still high that Wallace could play elsewhere in 2012.

The New England Patriots aren't out of the Wallace conversation. However, they are believed to still be pursuing Brandon Lloyd, who is familiar with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' system.

A wrinkle in the Patriots' plans is that Lloyd is going to visit with the receiver-hungry San Francisco 49ers. If Lloyd accepts their offer, Wallace is still very much in play for New England.

I wouldn't count out the Cincinnati Bengals as a potential Wallace suitor, though it would be a long shot for them to make an offer. They've been curiously silent in free agency thus far, despite having a few meetings lined up, and have a glut of money and two first-round draft picks in their coffers.

That being said, they might not want to add Wallace simply because they already have a No. 1 receiver in A.J. Green and will eventually have to pay both of them a great deal of money down the road.

However, if winning right now is the plan, then there are few receiving tandems that would be more dangerous—and for the Bengals, more desirable—than Wallace-plus-Green.

At least interested teams as well as the Steelers have a better baseline from which to work when it comes to a long-term deal for Wallace.

Clearly, Wallace is not going to command the numbers Vincent Jackson did from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($55.5 million, or ocho cincos, to be accurate) nor the astounding $132 million, seven-year deal Calvin Johnson just signed to remain with the Detroit Lions.

A more reasonable deal for Wallace would be something in the area of what Pierre Garçon got from the Washington Redskins or what DeSean Jackson received to stay with the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Garçon will get $42.5 million over five years, with $19.5 million in the first two, Jackson will receive a five-year, $51 million contract with $19 million over years one and two.

In theory, the Steelers could match an offer comparable to those two from a team interested in Wallace, but only if the deal wasn't front-loaded.

However, the fact that the Steelers will have to revisit this issue next season has to be taken into account, when both Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders are set to be restricted free agents. The cap problems aren't going to get all that much better, doubly so if Wallace gets a new deal this year.

It seems the best the Steelers can hope for is to keep their fingers crossed that no team pursues Wallace this season, he plays in 2012 under the RFA tender and moves on in 2013 as an unrestricted free agent.

As of now, Wallace's name has rarely come up during free agency. However, one thing is clear—if he's around in 2012, it's going to be extremely difficult to keep him in Pittsburgh come 2013.

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