Pittsburgh Steelers restricted free agent Emmanuel Sanders signed an offer sheet with the New England Patriots worth $2.5 million for one year yesterday, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com. Now, the Steelers will have five days to either match that offer or allow Sanders to walk and accept the Patriots’ third-round draft pick.

It isn’t clear what direction the Steelers will head in, but there is a lot of speculation that believes Pittsburgh will allow Sanders to walk in favor of the draft pick. The Steelers can match the Patriots’ offer, but the question is do they want to do so?

If the Steelers are confident that Sanders is just going to up and leave next season – when he hits unrestricted free agency – they could be content cutting their loses and taking a third-round pick. However, they’ve already lost wide receiver Mike Wallace this season and may not be interested in losing another.

If the Patriots do acquire Sanders, you can bet that they will extend him beyond the one-year offer. They wouldn’t surrender a third-round pick for one year of the wide receiver.