According to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, Wallace's asking price is immense not only in financial terms, but also when comparing his wishes to other players.
A league source said that Wallace, 25, wants a contract that surpasses the eight-year, $120 million deal that Larry Fitzgerald signed last year with the Cardinals. Combine that with the first-round pick any team that signs Wallace to an offer sheet would lose if the Steelers didn't match the offer, and you start to understand why we've heard so little about Wallace in the last week and a half.
That, of course, could change. Teams have another month to sign restricted free agents. But at that price, the 49ers aren't interested, and it's hard to imagine the Patriots, Bengals and Ravens paying that either.
If Wallace really wants $120 million or even close to it...he's literally smocking crack. I'm being serious, maybe he stole the rest of Whitney Houston's supply off of her dead corpse.
Wallace is a good player and he's probably the best deep-threat in the NFL, but he's not worth more money than Larry Fitzgerald. I wouldn't put Wallace in the top five receiver category just yet. Calvin Johnson is better, Fitzgerald is better, Andre Johnson is better, and you could argue that Greg Jennings, Hakeem Nicks, Roddy White, Brandon Marshall, and Wes Welker are all better.
Wallace asking for anywhere near $120 million is ridiculous considering that would make him a higher paid player than most quarterbacks around the league, including his own teammate Ben Roethlisberger. Get real.
Wallace is good but it would be hard to consider him an elite receiver at this point considering that his career high in receptions in 72 and the fact that he only had four-100 yard receiving games last season. Wallace never makes the "wow omg" catches like a Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Wallace just isn't that gifted. He's a one-trick pony and his trick is speed.
Also, Wallace has a lot of work to do if he wants to be a complete/elite receiver, foremost his route-running. Wallace runs sloppy routes and fails to make tough catches on a consistent basis.
The question is whether or not Wallace is just asking for that kind of money for leverage due to the fact that he wants to stay in Pittsburgh....I hope that's the case, however by going off of his tweets and remarks to the media, I wouldn't put it past him. Wallace did say he was going to break Jerry Rice's record last year and then went on to disappear in the second half of the season. Sure he got double-teamed a lot but those other receivers I mentioned get double-teamed all of the time and still make amazing plays.
If anyone pays Wallace near the money he's asking for they're stupid and deserve to fail as a team. The Steelers could honestly benefit from a team giving up a 1st round pick for Wallace and signing him away now. Steelers would get two first round picks this year and wouldn't have to let Wallace walk for free next year, because they are not going to pay him anywhere near that kind of money.
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