The Mike Wallace question persists for the Miami Dolphins: What to do with the overpaid, malcontent wide receiver?
While NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reports of the Dolphins shopping Wallace, the wideout has no plans to rework his contract to remain with the team.
The Miami Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday that, according to unnamed sources, Wallace has told the Dolphins he will not restructure the final three years and $32.9 million remaining on his five-year, $60 million contract signed in 2013.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Wallace, displeased with the conservative nature of the team's offense, would rather test the free-agent market than re-work the details of his contract.
It's an eye-blinker to read that Wallace might believe he could come anywhere close to earning nearly the $9.9 million due in 2015 on the open market given his locker room concerns, middling play the past two seasons and a deep free-agent pool and a draft. When other owners, like the Ravens' Steve Bisciotti -- unprovoked -- are using your contract to explain overpaying, it's not a good thing.
"Mike Wallace got $10 million," Bisciotti said this week, "I don't think anyone thinks that was a good deal."
The Dolphins would save $6.9 million on the cap with $5.2 million in dead money this season by cutting Wallace with a post-June 1 designation, per OverTheCap.com.
Have things gotten so bad in Miami that Wallace would rather risk getting less on the open market than he would in a restructure?
New executive vice president Mike Tannenbaum isn't giving away what road he'll take at the moment.
"Mike is a guy who is under contract for now. We're discussing all our options," Tannenbaum told WINZ-AM on Thursday. "Coach (Joe) Philbin, (owner Steve) Ross, Dennis (Hickey) and myself, we've talked. For now Mike is under contract, and we'll see where things go from there."
There are four options: Wallace can play under his current contract for one more year (when he becomes immensely more cuttable); be traded; be cut; or restructure his contract. If he doesn't want to do the latter, cutting him might become the best option for the Dolphins.
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