First Call: Art Rooney II on Stephon Tuitt, Heinz Field's name; ex-teammate advances Carson Wentz's name for Steelers QB job

Friday’s “First Call” starts with a former Philadelphia Eagles teammate who thinks the Pittsburgh Steelers may be a good fit for quarterback Carson Wentz.

Steelers owner Art Rooney II speaks about two lingering topics surrounding his team.

Thursday was bad all-around for the Penguins. And the Pitt hockey team is looking to make waves in the ACHA tournament.

Sticking up for his guy

Recent reports suggest that Colts quarterback Carson Wentz could be traded or released by mid-March. If that happens, one of his former Philadelphia Eagles teammates says he expects that Pittsburgh would be a good landing spot.

Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson says he still believes in Wentz and would like to see what he could do with the Steelers.

.@LaneJohnson65 on Carson Wentz:

"I think he'll get a shot somewhere and this will be a point where he can prove all the doubters wrong." pic.twitter.com/SQ87WtK033

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 24, 2022

“If he doesn’t stay with the Colts, I think he’s going to land with a great team. I heard you talking about Pittsburgh, I think that would be a good pickup for them. Just having that defense that they have and what he brings to the table,” Johnson said on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd, “I think he’ll get a shot somewhere and this will be a point where he can prove all the doubters wrong.”

I guess I’m one of the doubters because Wentz was 18th in passing yards per game at 209.6 in a run-heavy offense. His yards per attempt was 22nd at 6.9. He was 25th in completion percentage at 62.4%. A lot of those numbers are comparable to — or worse than — Ben Roethlisberger’s last year.

Plus, he was really bad in that dreadful loss Indy endured against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18, which allowed the Steelers to qualify for the playoffs.

With a base salary of $22 million and a scheduled cap hit of $28.2 million, as far as what Wentz “brings to the table,” I’m not sure what that is.

Hold the ketchup?

The naming rights are up at Heinz Field. But according to a clip that WPXI’s Jenna Harner circulated on Twitter on Thursday, Steelers owner Art Rooney II sounded optimistic that the name could stay in place.

“It’s something that we’re having some conversations with Heinz, obviously, about it. And I think we’ll know the answer to that soon,” Rooney said. “But I’m optimistic about keeping the name as is.”

Will Heinz Field be Heinz Field next season?

With the naming rights to the stadium up, Steelers President Art Rooney II tells me he's optimistic about keeping the name as is. pic.twitter.com/84YnNqX0Mx

— Jenna Harner (@JennaHarner11) February 24, 2022

Heinz paid only $57 million (get it??!!) for the original naming rights deal prior to the building opening for the 2001 season.

Nice bargain.

As ProFootballTalk pointed out, SoFi is believed to be paying $400 million for its 20-year deal for the stadium in Los Angeles that just hosted Super Bowl LVI.

Related:

• Suggestions for an all-Pirates set list when Metallica plays at PNC Park in August
• Tim Benz: MLB preparing to cancel games soon — is that a threat or a promise?

Different tone

Meanwhile, Rooney wasn’t quite as optimistic about a different story that has been tracked for a long time now.

That’s the status of defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt. He missed all of 2021 after dealing with a knee injury and the death of his brother, Richard Bartlett, who was killed in a hit-and-run incident last June.

Does Art Rooney II see Stephon Tuitt, here in Pittsburgh, as a member of the Steelers next season?

"We don't know at this point where Stephon is going to be and what his ability to compete for a position here next season is going to be. We've left the door open." pic.twitter.com/gl2ffw9bBp

— Jenna Harner (@JennaHarner11) February 24, 2022

“We don’t know at this point where Stephon is going to be and what his ability to compete for a position here next season is going to be,” he told Harner. “We’ve left the door open. We have to have more conversations with him to understand where he is. So that’s a situation that will need a little more time to play out and we’ll see where we go.”

Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert recently expressed very similar words about Tuitt. But there seemed to be a little more hopeful tone and message in his delivery about Tuitt’s status.

Regardless, at some point between now and the start of free agency next month, the Steelers need to make a call on Tuitt. He’s currently slated to cost more than $13.9 million against the salary cap in 2022.

It only gets worse

As if losing 6-1 at home to the last place New Jersey Devils on Thursday wasn’t bad enough for the Penguins, they also got bad news in the Metropolitan Division standings.

The New York Rangers got a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

The drop pass.
The shot. pic.twitter.com/YT8iQpi32Z

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 25, 2022

That was New York’s fifth victory in its past six games. The win gives the Rangers 71 points. They leapfrog the Penguins (70 points) into second place as a result.

The Pens, now losers of three in a row, host the Rangers on Saturday.

Pitt postseason bound

For the first time since 2018, the Pitt Panthers hockey team is headed to the ACHA National Tournament.

Pitt will be the 13th seed and will battle Navy (20th seed) on March 10 in St. Louis.

For the first time since 2018... Your panthers are headed to the ACHA National Tournament! https://t.co/OXUa3rnHDS

— Pitt Men’s Hockey (@D1PittHockey) February 22, 2022

That’s Pitt’s highest ranking in club history. The Panthers won the College Hockey Mid-America regular-season crown for the fourth time in five years with a 26-4-1 record. The winner gets UNLV the next day.

The CHMA conference has multiple teams in the ACHA National Tournament for the first time since 2015. No. 19 seed John Carroll received a bid based on its 3-1 CHMA Conference Championship victory over Pitt on Feb. 20.