Taylor: Wallace frustrated with contract status

By Mark Kaboly
Tribune-Review


Steelers receiver Mike Wallace hasn’t spoken publicly about his contract situation in the past four months.

The same can’t be said about cornerback Ike Taylor after spending the Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas with his teammate.

Taylor said during his weekly show on TribLive Radio today that Wallace is frustrated with contract negotiations and he wants to be at offseason practices but also wants what he believes he is due.

“There is a lot of frustration with Mike right now,” Taylor said. “He wants to be here. ... But at the same time he wants his paper.

“Mike feels like he outperformed his last contract. But he’s dealing with a monster, and that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers … they are not going to let you dictate to them on how you feel.”

...

“Mike is going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler for years to come,” Taylor said. “(But I told him), at the end of the day: Football doesn’t need you; you need football.”

http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/1879654-85/wallace-taylor-wants-mike-contract-million-steelers-agent-football-free

I listened to the interview with Ike -- According to Ike, Mike said he has more yards than Jerry Rice and Randy Moss in their first three years" Ike replied that it was a stat that he didn't know.

I'm sick to death of this punk, to be honest. Yeah, he is good. Yeah, I'd like to see him stay with the Steelers, but honestly, he is proving to be a distraction and an ego-infested ass. That's my opinion and I"m sticking to it!

hopping Rainey speed can replace Wallace's speed for the deep ball.

Gingerchip wrote:

I listened to the interview with Ike -- According to Ike, Mike said he has more yards than Jerry Rice and Randy Moss in their first three years" Ike replied that it was a stat that he didn't know.

I'm sick to death of this punk, to be honest. Yeah, he is good. Yeah, I'd like to see him stay with the Steelers, but honestly, he is proving to be a distraction and an ego-infested ass. That's my opinion and I"m sticking to it!

He is beginning to remind me of Holmes and I was glad to see him go. fistbump from me too Ginger.

It's about consistency. Rice, Ward, and even Moss, hell even TO (early in his career), were consistent. Sorry Mike but you tailed off at the end of the season, and that has hurt your chances of getting Fitzy money.

Come back to camp, get your head on straight and prove you are worth Fitzy money. Otherwise hold out and hurt your chances even more. But if you hold out, I guarentee you that there will be more Steelers fans like Ginger that'll be calling you out.

I think I found out how Ginger (not Truck ) is coping with Hines being let go. She's using Wallace (not Wally ) as a punching bag to vent her frustrations.

I agree. Shut up Wallace, and get on the field where you can prove you're worth what your rapidly enlarging head is thinking.

Buddha Bus wrote:

I agree. Shut up Wallace, and get on the field where you can prove you're worth what your rapidly enlarging head is thinking.

You really don't agree. You just wanted to say "shut up Wallace."

I know I'm in the minority, but I don't think all the hate toward Wallace is warranted. Ward held out, and we certainly don't hate him. And everything being said is coming from other people, not Wallace. To the best of my knowledge, he's handled the situation as professionally as could be expected.

I'm going to go on record to stick up for Wallace here. He has had an excellent career so far for The Steelers. He has worked hard and gotten consistently better while getting us to the Super Bowl and the playoffs. If you look at other players all over the league with his kind of stats, most of them make far more than him. I think his agent is the one throwing out things like "Fitzgerald money"; may even be out of context. He is sitting out a little so as not to get hurt and make a statement to The Steelers that says, "show me the money!" He showed up to meet with Mike Tomlin and get Haley's playbook. That speaks volumes for where he wants to be. Give the guy a break and let this thing play out. Stop with all the "knee-jerk" comments, please.

BornaSteelersfan wrote:

I'm going to go on record to stick up for Wallace here. He has had an excellent career so far for The Steelers. He has worked hard and gotten consistently better while getting us to the Super Bowl and the playoffs. If you look at other players all over the league with his kind of stats, most of them make far more than him. I think his agent is the one throwing out things like "Fitzgerald money"; may even be out of context. He is sitting out a little so as not to get hurt and make a statement to The Steelers that says, "show me the money!" He showed up to meet with Mike Tomlin and get Haley's playbook. That speaks volumes for where he wants to be. Give the guy a break and let this thing play out. Stop with all the "knee-jerk" comments, please.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you on this BaSF. I think the emergence of Brown has made everyone OK with tossing Wallace to the curb. But I'm not sure Brown is as productive without Wallace on the opposite side. As I said in my last post, I think Wallace has handled this holdout about as well as a holdout can be handled. Contract negotiations are like a game, and both sides are playing the game. I'd feel much differently if Wallace was running his mouth to the media and acting like T.O. or Ochostinko. But that's not the case.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

While Wallace has been good, he hasn't been spectacular. Him tapering off the 2nd half of the year shows that 1. he's not able to adjust his game or 2. he's not working hard enough.

Greatness isn't given, it's achieved and I'm not sure if he's willing to put in the work or have the mindset to be great.

I've said the same thing, but I've seen others question how much of his second-half "collapse" was due to Ben's injuries. It's hard to say for sure without going back and watching the games, but I think it's possible that Ben's injuries played a factor. The timing between the two was definitely off late in the year, and we know that Ben's foot injury was affecting his throwing, especially on deep passes.

I just had a thought. Other teams have adjusted to guarding Wallace, but did our OC adjust the offense to run different plays/give different looks to Wallace? Maybe that could have something to do with it....

BGSU A Dub wrote:

I just had a thought. Other teams have adjusted to guarding Wallace, but did our OC adjust the offense to run different plays/give different looks to Wallace? Maybe that could have something to do with it....

Wait, you're criticizing Arians and now I'm about to defend him. This is like bizarro day.

I don't think Arians' play calling had much to do with it. It was working like a charm in the first half of the season, and we know Arians didn't go away from it. So I think we have to look at either Wallace or Ben's injury as the primary factors for the dop off.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

Wallace108 wrote:

Wait, you're criticizing Arians and now I'm about to defend him. This is like bizarro day.

I don't think Arians' play calling had much to do with it. It was working like a charm in the first half of the season, and we know Arians didn't go away from it. So I think we have to look at either Wallace or Ben's injury as the primary factors for the dop off.

That's what I'm saying. It worked in the first half of the season because it was new and teams didn't have film yet. 2nd half, teams started to get film of the same offense that we ran every week. Because we didn't change our game plans, teams knew what to expect Wallace to do and had a plan to stop him.

That's possible I guess. So we can count Arians and Ben's injury as possible factors in Wallace's drop off in production. Or it really could all fall on Wallace. If I had to take a guess, I'd say it could be a combination of all three. I'm just not sure I want to pin it all on Wallace and toss him to the curb.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

I think this year will be the one that determines if he will be a Steeler for many years to come.

For that to be the case, I think they need to lock him up long term now. If he signs the tender, he's as good as gone next year. The Steelers don't negotiate during the year, and once he becomes an unrestricted free agent, there's no way we re-sign him, unless he really really really wants to stay in Pittsburgh.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

Wallace108 wrote:

For that to be the case, I think they need to lock him up long term now. If he signs the tender, he's as good as gone next year.

From what I have read from him, he likes Sanders and Brown, he likes Pittsburgh, and how could he not like playing for a winner? Plus he has a tough, big armed QB. He has everything he needs to be successful in Pittsburgh.

Everything except Fitzgerald money.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

The Steeler way is that you reap what you sow.

The Raven way is that you weep because you blow.

Wallace108 wrote:

The Raven way is that you weep because you blow.

Quote :

Ward held out, and we certainly don't hate him

By the time Ward held out, he had established his worth to the team, and all it took was Dan Rooney telling him that he was wanted as a Steeler, and that somehow they would come to an agreement. Hines then showed up for camp. I don't think Wallace has established his worth -- yet. Additionally, Ward never bragged that he was going to get 1,000 prior to a season beginning, he just worked his tail off. Hell, even Ike remarked to Wallace that he needs football more than football needs him. Just what prompted Ike to make that remark to speedy-gonzalez? Sorry, I'll never be sold on the "young money" dude.

Quote :

I think I found out how Ginger (not Truck ) is coping with Hines being let go. She's using Wallace (not Wally ) as a punching bag to vent her frustrations

DAMN RIGHT!!!!