One of the biggest names in the free agent pool is Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace. While it’s against the rules for teams to agree to contracts with free agents, it is okay to admit interest in the players. Wallace is drawing interest from a few teams but one that’s sure to raise eyebrows is the New England Patriots. Read more after the jump.
According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Patriots are showing interest in Steelers receiver Mike Wallace.
As Salguero points out, interest and a contract are two very different things. At a minimum, the Pats could be applying the Jedi mind trick to a Dolphins organization that already is motivated, by all appearances, to pursue Wallace. If the Patriots can dupe the Dolphins into devoting more cash and cap space on a player whom they covet, it’s an advantage for the Pats, who compete directly with the Dolphins in the AFC East.
New England rarely does a cannon ball into the deep end of the free-agent pool. It’s not unprecedented (e.g., Adalius Thomas), but it’s not common. Unless they can persuade Wallace to take less than he’ll be offered elsewhere, signing Wallace would be an unlikely expenditure of the cap space Tom Brady’s new deal helped create.
The idea of Brady throwing to Wallace does seem exciting, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
