It's no surprise that the Pittsburgh Steelers plan to have Mike Wallace available for the season opener against the Denver Broncos. It's not even a surprise they plan to start him.
The Steelers probably would have just preferred to keep that information private.
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Teammate Emmanuel Sanders told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday that Wallace would start against Denver. Wallace did not confirm that during his media session, and we doubt the Steelers will say anything.
Apart from the team's new playbook, Wallace noticed one other big change.
"I haven't been with Ben (Roethlisberger) in a while," Wallace said. "His arm is stronger than when we left last year. He was throwing that thing pretty far."
Wallace said he had a "pretty good grasp" of the new system. He doesn't think he'll be limited in terms of what he can handle mentally. It sounds like he's fine to go physically.
Look for Wallace to play plenty against the Broncos. The Steelers just hope he's more effective against Champ Bailey on Sunday than he was in the wild card round last year.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
