In about 5 hours from now the Pittsburgh Steelers will be on a plane headed to Denver to take on the Denver Broncos in Sunday night in the opener. That\’s roughly now how many hours are left before a new long-term deal needs to done with wide receiver Mike Wallace.
The Steelers certainly don\’t like to talk contracts once the season starts, and I can\’t see them changing that policy for Wallace this year. There simply can\’t be much in the way of negotiations left at this point between the two sides, as it likely is in a take it or leave it stage at this point.
Last year safety Troy Polamalu signed his contract extension at the airport before the team headed out to Baltimore. Had that deal done for a while and just signed at the airport to save Polamalu from having to deal with the media? Perhaps.
This week the media reported that Wallace seemed to be a little irritable in the locker room. He might just be tired of all of the same questions being asked him by the media since his return to the team a few weeks ago, or perhaps he has been told that there will be no new deal prior to the season.
Team president Art Rooney II and General Manager Kevin Colbert have stated ever since the team came back from Denver in January that the goal this offseason was to sign Wallace to a long-term deal. As of right now, 5 hours remain for them to accomplish that goal.
Let\’s hope the Pittsburgh airport has a huge surplus of pens.
