To paraphrase Bill Simmons…
Any time your team cuts off contract negotiations with a player about whom a legitimate argument for “team’s best player” can be made and instead gives the same contract offer to his backup to send a message during a holdout, you have to write a blog post about it. Here are some quick-hit thoughts. I apologize if it comes off as scatterbrained, but it’s late Friday night as I write this (to be published tomorrow morning), and I’m in a glass case of emotion right now – likely brought on by doing THIS twice tonight.
First, let’s state the obvious: the Mike Wallace’s holdout was stupid as soon as it started. I wish current NFL players were more informed of past league history. After finding out that James Harrison didn’t know who Ken Stabler is earlier in the week, we’re now dealing with Mike Wallace holding out of training camp despite being on a team who treats negotiations with a player holding out of training camp like the U.S. handles negotiating with terrorists. If you don’t feel like clicking the last link, the main quote from it is below.
Historically, the Steelers don’t negotiate with veterans holdouts who still have time on their existing contract. Wallace’s case is a little different because he was a restricted free agent who was given a one-year tender of $2.7 million for 2012. Still, the Steelers won’t resume talks with Wallace until he gets to camp, which means he must first end his holdout and sign his tender.
What made the holdout even worse were the reports that it was Wallace himself who initiated it – not his agent, Bus Cook, which is probably why GM Kevin Colbert said the following:
“We’ve chosen not to progress with negotiations at this point,” Colbert said. “Once we made that decision, we’re in a different mode.”
