Philadelphia Eagles: Signing Mike Wallace worth the risk
By Dan Parzych
The Philadelphia Eagles added depth at wide receiver after signing Mike Wallace to a one-year deal on Thursday.
It’s been a busy offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles, as the Super Bowl champions have been making all sorts of moves to give them a better chance of repeating in 2018, although some of those decisions were tougher than others. For instance, the Eagles made the difficult decision to part ways with Torrey Smith after just one reason after sending the veteran wideout to the Carolina Panthers in a trade, but it looks like the team may have found a solid replacement in Mike Wallace.
Despite how successful the receiving corps was for the most part this past season during their epic Super Bowl run, Philadelphia has a few answers at the position heading into training camp, highlighted by the uncertainty surrounding Alshon Jeffery. Turns out, Jeffery had one of the NFL’s best kept secrets by playing through a torn rotator cuff the entire 2017 season along with the playoffs, which nobody would have known when looking at some of the numbers he was putting up in games.
At the moment, Jeffery seems confident enough that he’ll be ready to go by the time Week 1 arrives in September, but as everyone knows, that’s always easier said than done. So between Smith no longer in the picture on top of the uncertainty surrounding Jeffery’s return, the decision to sign a veteran like Wallace to a one-year deal seems worth the risk for the Eagles.
For the #Eagles and FA WR Mike Wallace, it’s a 1-year deal worth $2.5M with incentives, source said. Slides neatly under the salary cap.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 22, 2018
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Paying Wallace this low amount of money when taking into consideration that he caught 124 passes for 1,765 yards and eight touchdowns during the previous two seasons as a member of the Baltimore Ravens makes this deal look like a steal for Philadelphia. No matter who ends up being under center at the start of the 2018 season since the Eagles will feel confident enough in either Carson Wentz or Nick Foles, the addition of Wallace could help this offense reach a whole new level. Losing Smith in a trade was tough, but in a way, Philadelphia seems better off with Wallace instead since he not only can still make an impact while saving some extra money in the process.