There was no puff of white smoke or release of doves, but wide receiver Mike Wallace has finally made it back to the Steelers.
Josina Anderson of ESPN has photographic evidence of Wallace entering the Steelers facility a short time ago, which you can see at right via Anderson’s Twitter account. Thus ends the wait for Wallace in Pittsburgh that began when the team tendered him as a restricted free agent. Wallace tried to find a long-term deal with the Steelers or someone else, but will instead be signing the $2.742 million tender that has been on the table for months.
Wallace won’t be eligible to take part in a full practice with the team for a few days, but his work on absorbing offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s offense should begin straightaway. There are 12 days until the Steelers season begins with a date against the Broncos, which isn’t much time even though Wallace had a copy of the team’s playbook during his absence.
The assumption is that Wallace will be on the field in Week One, even if he is just serving as a distraction for the defense. The Steelers will hope for more in the weeks to follow, but getting Wallace back in the fold was significant regardless of how much he’s able to do right out of the gate.