Mike Wallace's Best Option Is Simply to Remain with Pittsburgh Steelers

Wide receiver Mike Wallace reportedly wants to get paid like one of the NFL's top receivers, according to sacbee.com, but his best bet would be to do whatever it takes to stay with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wallace is a good receiver and he's coming off arguably his best season in the NFL. He reached his first Pro Bowl after catching 72 passes for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns. The Ole Miss product has certainly established himself as one of the league's top deep threats, but he has yet to prove he deserves the kind of money Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald or Detroit's Calvin Johnson makes.

The San Francisco 49ers have interest in Wallace and are rumored to be making a run at him. The 25-year-old receiver is apparently looking for a deal that surpasses the eight-year, $120 million contract signed by Fitzgerald last year. But he won't get that from San Francisco, or anyone else for that matter.

The Steelers need a guy like Wallace who can stretch the field, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has developed solid chemistry with his wideout over the past three years. 

Right now, the Steelers have placed a first-round tender worth $2.74 million on Wallace. If he signs with another franchise, that team would surrender its first-round pick to Pittsburgh. If Wallace signs the tender, he would become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. 

Steelers President Art Rooney II claims the franchise wants to work out a long-term deal with Wallace and that the two sides have remained in touch, according to pittsburghlive.com. The Steelers have restructured several contracts this offseason to give them some cap space, but they still only have somewhere between $6 to $8 million right now. 

Wallace would do best to stick with the Steelers and help them work out a tenable long-term contract offer by lowering his sights just a bit. He's not to the level of Johnson or Fitzgerald yet, and he can't expect to get paid like them.