Im sure most of u know me from finheadache. What i think ireland needs to do this offseason, 1. Sign mike wallace, lock him up, 10-12 mil a year, make it happen. (free agency isnt the answer in building a team but it is the answer in patching holes up, get your checkbook out steve, its about time you put your money where your mouth is). Instantly Our WR core becomes much better with mike wallace, he will make all of our WRs look like probowlers, see pittsburgs antonio brown. With mike wallace there, look at what hes doing while wallace draws double teams all over the field. Hes the healthiest, the youngest, the best WR to hit the market in quite awhile. He is worth the money. 2.Cut hartline, Long. Hartline had 1 td all year and jake long is damaged goods. Use an early round draft pick to replace him and go from there. Hartline aint worth 5 mil a year, he is not half the player jordy nelson is and nelson only makes 3.5 mil annually. Offer hartline 3 mil, take it or walk. 3. Resign Smith for 7.5 mil a year, he might be a goof, a big mouth whatever, but he has developed into a solid cover corner who has proven himself as such. Not your flashy playmaker and had a few terrible games this year but i have a feeling if we let him go he turns into a probowler and we regret it. Lock um up, look for a dual threat in the draft to pair with him making our defense top 5. 4.Resign Starks - we cannot let go of starks. Proabably the best player on this team and the only legit worthy probowler. 5.Have a Good draft, address the OL, WR #2, and secondary position. Thats my 2 cents, fire away.
Whoever said this is weak at WR is someone you should cease to listen to. WR is one of the deeper positions in the draft. Theres just no Megatron or AJ Green types. That doesnt make it weak. I would say there are no top 10 or maybe even top 15 worthy WR's. But there's a good 20 or so WR's I wouldnt mind having and probably 30 or so that are draft-able.
I really go back and forth with Wallace. He's a good WR, but I really wonder (1) why are his numbers not better in that offense that at times has been pass first, run second. and (2) if he were that great and worth 10-12 million a year, and was that important to the Steelers passing game, he would not be made available to us. He's certainly not in the class of Megatron, Fitzy or even Green in Cincy. But he would be an instant upgrade of our WR corp. Just not convinced that particular upgrade is worth 10-12 million a year. If Jennings cost us 7-8 million a year and we can use the 4 million to sign another FA to fill one of our many holes, or use it towards a bigger contract to sign Dustin Keller, we'd be far better off. Jennings + Keller >>>> Wallace
1. Im not really sure how much better numbers you want from him? The last 3 years he is averaging over 1100 yards and almost 9 TD's (many of which come from 20+ yards out which is exactly the type of playmaking we need). He also has other good players around him like Antonio Brown (who in the last two seasons saw the same and many more targets this past season) and Heath Miller with whom he has to share the ball. 2. This I disagree on. The Steelers had the same situation with Plaxico Burress a decade ago. You had a player who pulled some antics and wanted to get paid and Pittsburgh took a hardline approach (as they always have). The Burress signing was huge for the Giants in Eli Manning's development and he produced. The Steelers typically have a salary structure they look to adhere to and it works for them but for them to be offering Wallace less money then DeSean Jackson got when theyre similar players is probably what Wallace is looking at. Also, Wallace was very upset at being made to play out his rookie contract when in the past rookie contracts that were outperformed were re-done in year 4. Which IMO only seems right. I agree hes not in Megatron's class, at this point who is? Wallace is a different player then Green and Fitz who will use their size to make plays. Wallace is a true home run threat. The guys you should be comparing him too are players with the same skillset like DeSean Jackson, like Victor Cruz. Hes produced longer then Cruz, albeit not as much, and hes less injury prone then Jackson so far. He should get around Jackson's range which is 10-11M per. More importantly his skillset is unique and rare in that he has elite deep speed and pretty good hands. You dont find many of those. Its his skills, production and the fact hes a rare commodity youre paying for. Big name free agents are rarely good values but as long as we dont over pay and give him something insane like 15M per this is something we should all be in favor of. As I stated in my thread about Jennings, there are some serious concerns about Jennings that Wallace doesnt share. Given the choice, Id take Wallace over Jennings + Keller because as much as I like Keller and Jennings, Jennings doesnt have but 1-2 prime years left which means in 1-2 years youre back looking for another deep threat at WR. Wallace should have at least 3-4 prime years left. Jennings has shown more propensity to get hurt as well. Wallace is a safer bet even if he will probably cost 3-4M per.
I've been swayed now. When you look at this team from a salary cap point of view, you almost have to view it like this: Mike Wallace 1st Round Pick Davone Bess Rishard Matthews Late Round Pick/Binns/etc. Maybe go after Washington State's troubled WR, who I have as a 2nd round pick with character concerns. Who knows, this leaves things open. vs Greg Jennings Brian Hartline 3rd rounder Davone Bess Matthews You have to see how high they are rating the middle of our corps. Maybe we have guys like Hartline vs 1st round pick. Maybe we wait until after the draft to re-sign the guy. Would that be likely? Nah, Hartline will get good offers. He's going to get 4 million a year for 3-4 years from someone. Guy is a talented #2 that frankly, has some of the best body control with regards to receiving the ball that I've seen from #2 WRs that aren't mega elite (CJ, Green, AJ) Personally? I like option #1. I'm a massive fan of Hartline. I think he makes this team better. But at the expense of Wallace? I don't think so. What's sad is that Wallace and Hartline absolutely compliment each other. Wallace can play anywhere, but it's no secret he's a fantastic deep threat. Hartline? He runs superb routes, has great hands for sideline catches, and simply creates separation. Imagine Hartline on those routes WITHOUT a safety over top? Without a double team? Man, that's a lot of great chain movement, and the moment they start biting on Hartline's outs and comebacks, Wallace eats up that cushion, beats the coverage, and gets deep. Hopefully, Tannehill hits him deep and touchdown. Many will argue Bess can be used like that, but he's not on the same level as Hartline. Bess is the slot.
