The scribes in Pittsburgh have suggested that a likely outcome to unsigned restricted free agent receiver Mike Wallace’s training camp holdout is a trade out of town. The Steelers on Friday signed fellow wideout Antonio Brown to a lucrative, long-term contract. They will not be satisfying Wallace’s contractual demands.
But Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert tapped the brakes Saturday on the Wallace trade speculation. Colbert says Wallace isn’t going anywhere.
“Mike Wallace is not available for trade,” Colbert told ESPN’s Ed Werder.
The Steelers appear to be digging in for a potentially lengthy, ugly holdout with their best wide receiver. In an ideal world from an organizational standpoint, Wallace would cave, report to camp after signing his one-year, $2.742 million restricted tender, and play his tail off in a contract season.
That’d be an awfully feeble course of action on the player’s part, however. If Wallace is making this a business decision, he’ll sit out the first ten regular season games and report thereafter, only to gain an accrued year toward 2013 unrestricted free agency.
Colbert is talking tough now, but you can be sure he’s still fielding phone calls. As is always the case in these kinds of scenarios, it’s going to be interesting to see which side becomes the first to budge.