Could Steelers Mike Wallace Land In Denver?

The Steelers placed a first round tender on Mike Wallace and have sat back waiting for someone to take the bait.  We’ve all been saying that this move is a win win for the Steelers.  After the flurry of wide out acquisitions in the first few days of free agency, the prospect of Wallace leaving the ‘Burgh has become less and less.  The Pats picked up Brandon Lloyed and the 49ers picked up Mario Manningham – two teams who were rumored to be potential new homes for Wallace.  But don’t count Wallace out yet for landing a big contract with a team other than the Steelers before the draft.

The Denver Broncos are one of the teams in the NFL who have a huge amount of money to spend – almost $45 million dollars.  They appear to be close in acquiring Peyton Manning (as long as Elway doesn’t flash that smile too often).  The Manning Sweepstakes aren’t over, but it appears to be to down to the Broncos, Titans and Dolphins (although the Dolphins seem to be out).  If the Broncos can acquire Manning, they will have one of the best quarterbacks in the league.  However, their receiving core could use a bit of help.  Decker, Royal, Willis, Thomas – all receivers with sub-par stats last season.  Granted, Tebow Time really didn’t help the passing game.  The Broncos ranked an inept 31st in the pass including only 12 passing TD’s.  But the passing game isn’t built to be explosive…. yet.

The Broncos certainly have the cash to spend on some premium players.  If they get Manning, they could certainly use a deep threat like Wallace.  And by acquiring Manning and Wallace, they could possibly afford to lose their first round pick to the Steelers.  John Elway has a commitment to vastly improve the Broncos offense, and he has two players staring him back in the face.  That could be the injection the Broncos need to dominate a weak AFC West division.

As always, I hate to see a really good Steeler go.  But if Wallace gets a big offer from the Broncos, the Steelers are going to let him go.  And quite possibly, we could see Wallace turn into one of the best receivers the game has ever seen by getting a few years under his belt with Peyton Manning.