Ray Rice Will Get Tagged, Mike Wallace Won’t

Added on Mar 01, 2012 by Scott in

NFL

Everybody loves a good game of tag. Especially NFL teams in the month of March. With free agency only two weeks away, franchises are crunching salary cap numbers and placing value on potential free agents. To tag or not to tag, that is the question. Such is the case for two of the league’s rising young offensive stars, Baltimore’s Ray Rice and Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace.

Rice, who led the league in yards from scrimmage this past season with 2068, is set to be tagged on Friday. The fourth-year running back will earn $7.7 million in 2012 should he play for the tag amount, although a long-term deal is likely in his future.

“Yeah, I definitely prefer long-term over franchise tag,” Rice told the Carroll County Times. “I’m not going to complain about the franchise tag, either. It puts yourself in a position where you play that year out and guys have done it, but I prefer the long-term.”

Rice has rushed for over 1000 yards in three straight seasons and caught 217 passes during that span. He is easily the Ravens most important player on offense and the front office has every intention of locking him up for the next five or six years.

As for Wallace, the Steelers don’t plan to tag their speedy wide receiver before the March 5th deadline expires. Instead, they will apply a franchise tender, which will allow other teams to sign him to an offer sheet, but Pittsburgh would receive a first-round draft pick as compensation if they don’t match the contract.

Basically, the Steelers can’t tag Wallace due to salary cap woes. They are fortunate he is a restricted free agent or he’d probably be good as gone. Wallace would prefer to stay put, but is prepared to move on if necessary.

“(Pittsburgh is) where I would like to be, but we all know that it is a business and you have certain things you have to handle,” Wallace told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “So if I have to go elsewhere, you know Pittsburgh will always be in my heart, but I have to do what I have to do.”

The third-year wideout has scored 24 touchdowns and averaged 18.7 yards per catch in his brief career. With veteran Hines Ward in line to be released, the Steelers can ill afford to lose Wallace from their receiving corps.

Source: ESPN.com, NFL.com