I said it before the season started: Mike Wallace is nothing more to the Baltimore Ravens than a Darrius Heyward-Bey clone.

I want to retract that statement because it’s offensive to DHB: he’s much more than Mike Wallace.

Okay, yes, we’re all throwing shade at Mike Wallace for holding out during the offseason in his last year as a Steeler. That much should be obvious, but the other side of the story is, Wallace didn’t just leave for money, but he ended up with the enemy.

Yes, the Baltimore Ravens are Public Enemy #1 in the Steel City, not the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mike Wallace playing for the Ravens just makes it even sweeter this Sunday, but what if Wallace had never left? What would the Steelers look like?

Most fans are quick to point out the difference in keeping Antonio Brown over Mike Wallace, when AB was given a contract extension over Wallace during that fateful offseason, but I have a completely different view of how things might be.

Look no further than Darrius Heyward-Bey.

I’m a firm believer that DHB is more valuable to the Steelers than Wallace is to the Ravens, and here’s why.

Burning out their welcome

Since leaving Pittsburgh, Wallace has been with as many teams (3) as many years DHB has been with the Steelers (also 3).

DHB was a former first round pick by the Oakland Raiders, who flashed speed but never flashed the talent that made him the 7th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Dumped by Oakland in 2013, the Indianapolis Colts took on the receiver next, but his stay in Indy was short-lived. In 2014, Heyward-Bey arrived in Pittsburgh, signing a one-year “prove it” deal.

He was such a team player, the Steelers resigned him to another one-year deal in 2015, then extended a three-year offer to DHB this offseason. A large part of that offer is due to the up-and-down availability of Martavis Bryant, but nonetheless, Heyward-Bey has stuck with the Steelers for three years.

Wallace left Pittsburgh for Miami in 2013, playing 2 years for the Dolphins before getting traded to the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. Wallace struggled miserably with the Vikes, and became a free agent, signing with Baltimore this offseason, looking to resuscitate his career.

Contributions

This is going to sound crazy, because clearly a high-priced wide receiver, he sees nearly every rep in a team’s offense, should outperform their counterpart; yet, Mike Wallace hasn’t done much more than DHB over the last couple of seasons.

With the Vikings in 2015, Wallace caught 39 passes for 473 yards and 2 touchdowns.

With the Steelers last season, Heyward-Bey caught 21 passes for 314 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Both players appeared in all 16 games with their respective franchise, but Wallace started 8 more games than Heyward-Bey did.

This season, Wallace is edging out DHB with 3 touchdown catches to 2: but Darrius also has a rushing touchdown, notching them even in the scoring department again.

Over the same time span, Wallace’s longest catch went for 70 yards, while DHB had a 66 yard long.

Wallace has been targeted 60 times to DHB’s 13.

I can stretch the truth a bit here and tell you that DHB is five times more efficient than Wallace, but we know that DHB isn’t on the field as much as Wallace.

Or is he?

Depth Chart

As mentioned, DHB doesn’t see the field nearly as much as Wallace, but that almost didn’t happen in the latter’s case either.

Entering the 2016 season, Mike Wallace may have been fighting for his NFL career, just as DHB had been fighting for his own, years earlier. Wallace joined a crowded Baltimore Ravens receiver group with Steve Smith Sr., Kamar Aiken, and 2015 first round pick Breshad Perriman. Like DHB, Wallace was now at a point in his career where he had to prove he could still be an impact player, especially after the year he had in Minnesota, plus the drop in production he had with his pair of seasons in Miami.

Sometimes Heyward-Bey is so far down the depth chart you have to look to locate him. The Steelers may have one of the best groups or wide receivers in the NFL: Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, and Sammie Coates were arguably ahead of DHB in the pecking order heading into camp. Martavis Bryant would have been as well, if he weren’t suspended earlier in the year.

Cutting further into DHB’s playing time is undrafted slot receiver Eli Rogers, who was an opening game starter.

Yet, both Wallace and Heyward-Bey found themselves a role with their respective teams this season, as injuries and/or suspensions paved the way for each individual to receive more playing time.

For those reasons, Wallace truly is Baltimore’s version of Heyward-Bey: with one exception.

Special Teams

Darrius Heyward-Bey plays special teams.

Mike Wallace does not.

Those two sentences could sum up the greater value of DHB versus Mike Wallace, but there’s more beneath the surface.

In Heyward-Bey’s final season in Oakland, he didn’t play a single special teams snap, despite playing in 15 games (starting 14 of them). With the Colts in 2013, DHB played 6.3%, or 29 total snaps, with their special teams units: only two receivers played less snaps: Reggie Wayne (2) and Da’Rick Rogers (1).

What percentage of special teams plays has Heyward-Bey participated in since becoming a Steeler?

• 2014 – 37.6%
• 2015 – 38.9%
• 2016 – 43.4%

Heyward-Bey’s snaps have gone up over his three seasons with Pittsburgh, even though he’s had more of a starring role in games played since 2014 (as mentioned, he started in place of Martavis Bryant several times in 2015, and for various injury substitutions in 2016).

Despite his lack of playing special teams full-time with any of his prior teams, DHB has lead all Steelers receivers in special teams unit snaps during his entire stay in Pittsburgh. I would argue that this gives him far more value than Wallace, considering DHB’s contract is more affordable, and his role, particularly as a deep threat, is almost identical.

Heyward-Bey is also marginally younger than Wallace as well.

Cheaper. Younger. Better.

The only thing missing is that DHB plays behind a number of young, talented receivers, including the best one in the league.

Perhaps this is why Hey-Bey’s name raised some eyebrows when his name was moved into the starting receiver spot on the Steelers depth chart earlier this week; next to Antonio Brown. He has worked hard to prove he can still play in the NFL, and is a teammate willing and able to do whatever is asked of him.

In a recent interview with Steelers.com, Ben Roethlisberger had nothing but high praise for his receiver’s promotion:

“He is a guy that we can move around, can play multiple positions and do it well. He is a guy you have faith that can play any of the three wide receiver spots.

That is key when you have questions, whether it’s through injuries, or guys getting hurt in the middle of the game like Antonio Brown last week.

Being able to throw Hey-Bey in there and do stuff with him.”

When given a choice between Mike Wallace and Darrius Heyward-Bey, as the title states, I’d take DHB everyday.

And twice on Sunday.