Steelers Insider On Wallace Holdout: 'I Don't Know What The Goal Is Here'

PITTSBURGH (93-7 THE FAN) -- 93-7 The Fan's Steelers Insider Ed Bouchette joined The Fan Morning Show Thursday with training camp officially getting underway.

The biggest story entering camp is that Mike Wallace has elected to not participate in drills and continues holding out.

Bouchette asserted that this is an ill-conceived maneuver by Wallace's camp.

"These aren't the Jacksonville Jaguars," said Bouchette. "[The Steelers] have a history here, and they have a consistent one of dealing with holdouts - they don't... so I don't know what the goal is here."

He didn't see Wallace's decision-making sense even if Wallace doesn't expect a new deal.

"Maybe he looked at what Hines Ward did [in 2005]... where he held out for two weeks and then came in," Bouchette said. "Those were entirely different circumstances. Hines had established himself as one of the better NFL wide receivers by then - a well-rounded receiver - and it wasn't a new offense that year."

Bouchette ruled out the possibility of Wallace leveraging a long-term deal right now.

"If he's going to play this year, it's going to be for that one-year tender," he explained. "I think Mike and his agent have a value on him much, much higher than the Steelers do."

The interview can be heard here: