Mike Wallace has been cut by the Minnesota Vikings after refusing to restructure his contract.
The Mike Wallace era in Minnesota has come to an end after just one year. The St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports that Wallace and the Vikings have parted ways after failing to come to agreement on a restructured contract.
The 29-year-old Wallace was set to make $11.5 million in 2016, a whole lot of scratch for a player who produced just 473 yards and two TDs on 39 receptions last year.
By cutting Wallace, the Vikings get back $11.5 million in cap space with no dead money.
The Vikings acquired Wallace plus a seventh-round pick in 2015 in a trade sending a fifth-round pick back to Miami. Despite concerns about Wallace’s history of attitude problems, Wallace seemed to quickly gel with his new Vikings teammates and even came to be seen as a positive veteran presence.
Unfortunately Wallace never quite gelled with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on the field. Wallace’s talents as a big-play receiver were never exploited by the Vikings as Bridgewater struggled to deliver the ball accurately downfield.
Wallace’s lack of production led many to believe he should be let go by the Vikings regardless of his contract situation, but some argued Wallace still could have value on the field at the right price.
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The Vikings clearly thought Wallace could still contribute and wanted to make the numbers work but Wallace obviously was not amenable to taking a major pay-cut in order to stay in Minnesota.
Wallace will now be dumped into a very weak free agent market at wide receiver. It’s almost certain that Wallace will be picked up somewhere but if he thinks he’s going to score a big-time deal he is delusional.