Ending his long holdout, Mike Wallace reported to the Steelers today and signed his 2.747 million dollar restricted free agent tender. The Steelers refusal to move Wallace in a trade has paid off as Wallace will be a big contributor for a team built to win now. His long term future with the team remains murky as they would appear to lack the cap space needed to give Wallace the type of money he wants and deserves, especially after extending Antonio Brown.

They had to restructure several contracts this offseason just to get under the cap and next offseason they figure to be very backed up against the cap, if not over it, as all of the recently restructured deals will hurt them more next offseason and because Brown’s extension will kick in. However, for a team built to win now, 1 year of Wallace was probably worth more to them than any type of 2013 draft pick (or picks) they could have gotten in a trade for him.

Wallace should still have a down year statistically after his extended holdout. By holding out, he risked getting out of shape. It’s very tough to stay in top football shape on your own. Even more likely, he also missed valuable Training Camp and preseason time with a new offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, coming in. It’s likely he’ll be primarily a deep decoy for Antonio Brown in the early part of the season at least.

That would be a great statistical situation for Brown, who has been there all offseason and has greater mastery of the playbook. He should lead the team in receiving this year. Wallace caught 72 passes for 1193 yards and 8 touchdowns last season, while Brown caught 69 passes for 1108 yards and 2 touchdowns. Expect Brown to be closer to 1300 yards and Wallace closer to 1000. Plus, remember, Brown had 677 yards to Wallace’s 393 in the 2^nd half of last season. Brown’s 2 touchdowns from last season should also prove to be a fluke. At his current ADP in the 4th round, he’s a great value in fantasy football leagues.

If you’re interested in doing a fantasy football league with me, here’s the link (no draft date set yet, currently standard, with the option to become PPR with group vote). http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/Registration/Private.aspx?league=55086&password=FanSpot2

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