First Call: Justin Fields as Steelers' 1st QB choice may be brewing; a look at chances of landing Davante Adams, Darius Slayton

Wednesday’s “First Call” has some direction for speculation about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation. We have gambling odds on the Steelers acquiring Davante Adams and information on another wide receiver who may be in the mix.

Plus, we check in on a former Penguin who is hunting a career milestone, and we examine the next opponent for the struggling Pitt Panthers basketball team.

Figure it ‘aht!

NFL free agency hits March 12 beginning at 4 p.m., and the Steelers don’t have a starting quarterback on their roster. According to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, they are working to rectify that before the free agent window opens.

Whether that is by signing Russell Wilson or Justin Fields is still uncertain.

“Pittsburgh is determined to try to get one of these quarterback deals done in the coming days so that it has some clarity going into free agency,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on Tuesday’s “Pat McAfee Show.”

“It’s tough to go into free agency — to go add to your offense — when you have no idea who’s playing quarterback. That’s why I think they’re going to spend this week working on getting a deal done with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson.”

Schefter seems to be putting his money on the Steelers attempting to land Fields first.

“I would imagine Justin Fields is first up in the pecking order. We’ll see if they can get something worked out there. If not, it’s easy to pivot onto Russell Wilson, and we’ll see how this works out,” Schefter added.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said that he thinks Fields could get a deal similar to Sam Darnold’s one-year, $10 million contract with Minnesota a year ago.

I actually think that Fields is up for a significantly better contract than that, whether it is here or elsewhere. Breer mentioned the New York Jets as a potential destination. I think that could be an accurate guess if Fields departs Pittsburgh. 

Big Apple attention

Speaking of New York, Giants receiver Darius Slayton could be a fit in Pittsburgh. That’s the opinion of New York Daily News Giants beat reporter Pat Leonard.

“I’m told teams like the Chargers, Panthers and Steelers are among the likely suitors for the consistent Giants receiver,” Leonard posted on social media.

"You need chunk plays to score in this league." Darius Slayton ⁦@Young_Slay2⁩ anticipates "a lot of interest" in free agency. I'm told teams like the Chargers, Panthers and Steelers are among the likely suitors for the consistent #Giants receiver https://t.co/fLZ9Pi593y

— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) March 4, 2025

Slayton is set to become a free agent. The 28-year-old is the No. 41 pending free agent in Gregg Rosenthal’s Top 101 at NFL.com.

At Acrisure Stadium in Week 8 of last season, Slayton had four receptions for 108 yards in a 26-18 loss to the Steelers.

A fifth-rounder out of Auburn in 2019, Slayton was rumored to be a target of the Steelers at various points last season. He posted a career-high 770 yards for the Giants in 2023.

Down the list

Davante Adams is now officially a free agent. The New Jets let him go Tuesday.

Given the wide receiver’s Pro Bowl resume, you’d think that the Steelers would have an interest in signing him.

Maybe they do. But is that feeling mutual? Given the Steelers’ uncertainty at the quarterback position, could you blame Adams if it isn’t?

As posted at ProFootballTalk, FanDuel has Adams’ original team, the Green Bay Packers, as the most likely team to sign him at plus-190. They are followed by the Los Angeles Chargers at plus-500, the 49ers at plus-650 and the Los Angeles Rams plus-750 before getting to the Steelers at plus-950.

For those who think Adams will just want to go wherever Aaron Rodgers winds up again — as he did when he left Las Vegas for the Jets this past year — the New York Giants are minus-150 to sign Rodgers.

More sports

• Tim Benz: Travis Hunter's '2-way player' opinion makes sense but misses bigger picture
• Robert Morris basketball brings ray of sunshine to bleak Pittsburgh sports landscape
• Steelers' search for running back depth leads them to deep draft class at NFL Combine

Feeling empathy

The Pitt Panthers wrap up the road portion of their schedule against one of the few teams in the ACC struggling as badly as they are.

Jeff Capel’s club is in Raleigh on Wednesday night to play N.C. State. The Wolfpack are 11-18 and 4-14 in ACC play. They have dropped three of their last four. In those three losses, N.C. State has fallen by an average of 21 points.

The Miami Hurricanes (2-17) are the only ACC club with a worse record than N.C. State this year. At least they are playing at home, where the Wolfpack are actually 11-6. They are 0-12 away from Reynolds Coliseum.

At 69.6 points per game, only Virginia (64.9) has a lower scoring average than the Pack in the ACC. They are also the second-worst shooting team (42.7%) in the conference. Cal (42.1%) is the only school that’s tracking at a worse rate.

Pitt is in bad shape too. The Panthers have dropped three in a row and seven of nine. They’ve fallen to 16-13 and 7-11 in ACC action. The tip is at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Capel and company conclude the regular season at 6 p.m. Saturday at home against Boston College (12-17, 4-14).

Not ‘Staal’ing out

Former Penguin Jordan Staal is closing in on a career milestone.

The Carolina Hurricanes captain scored career goal 297 on Tuesday night in Detroit. The 36-year-old stole a puck from Detroit goalie Alex Lyon beneath the goal line, then beat him with a wrap-around.

Staal steal ➡️ Staal score pic.twitter.com/bz57rWdNm0

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 5, 2025

For Staal, that’s goal No. 12 on the season. It made the score 2-0. The Canes went on to beat the Red Wings, 2-1. They now have 76 points, 10 back of Metropolitan Division-leading Washington.

Staal has 20 games left this season to get to 300 goals for his career. So far, 177 of those goals were scored in Carolina, 120 were posted in Pittsburgh.

This is Staal’s 19th season. The first six were in Pittsburgh, including the 2009 Stanley Cup campaign.