Live Wire: Fraley staying with Lions ... Pouncey leaning toward retirement ... Hodges signs with Rams

Welcome to our new Steelers Live Wire, a round-the-clock feature that offers news that's fast, friendly to use and fun. The previous week's entry is right here.

As they say, here we go ...

FRALEY WON'T BE
JOINING STEELERS

8 p.m. Sunday: Offensive line coach candidate Hank Fraley will be returning to the Lions in that same capacity.

Fraley interviewed for the Steelers' vacant offensive line coach job, but after meeting with new Lions head coach Dan Campbell, Fraley, who joined the Lions just this season, will be staying on with Detroit.

At this point, Fraley is the only candidate who has officially interviewed for the job with the Steelers. -- Lolley

RAMON WEIGHS IN

6:12 p.m. Sunday: Our own Ramon Foster, who's been texting with Maurkice Pouncey regularly, sounds caution. -- DK

POUNCEY LEANING
TOWARD RETIREMENT

4:45 p.m. Sunday: The Steelers saw tight end Vance McDonald retire last week. It looks like he'll be joined by center Maurkice Pouncey.

We have confirmed Pouncey has informed teammates he intends to officially retire, something I had speculated on following the team's playoff loss to the Browns when the Pro Bowl center sat with Ben Roethlisberger long after everyone else had left the field. Roethlisberger then spoke of Pouncey in the past tense. He does not, however, according to sources, make any kind of official announcement.

Pouncey just wants to walk into retirement on his own once the decision is final.

A first-round draft pick in 2010, Pouncey became an immediate starter for the Steelers. He was voted to the Pro Bowl nine times and All-Pro five times, including three to the first-team.

Pouncey's retirement would save the Steelers $8 million against their 2021 salary cap. McDonald's retirement saves the team $5.2 million. -- Lolley

HODGES SIGNS ON
WITH RAMS

2:30 p.m. Sunday: Former Steelers quarterback Devlin Hodges signed a futures deal with the Rams.

Hodges, who started six games for the Steelers in 2019 when Ben Roethlisberger was injured, spent the 2020 season on the team's practice squad but did not have his contract renewed at the end of the season. He made his first career start in Los Angeles, leading the Steelers to a win over the Chargers and Philip Rivers.

Hodges announced his deal on Twitter. -- Lolley

HILLIARD NOT GOING
TO LIONS

7 p.m. Saturday: The Lions had received permission to talk to Steelers wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard about their offensive coordinator opening.

The former teammate of new head coach Dan Campbell won't be getting the job, however. Campbell hired former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn to be his offensive coordinator Saturday night.

Of course, that news came at about the same time it was announced the Lions are also set to move on from quarterback Matthew Stafford. The Lions' top two receivers, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones also are set to be unrestricted free agents, as well. Detroit, which hasn't won a playoff game since 1991, could be a complete rebuild -- again. -- Lolley

McDONALD RETIRES

9 a.m. Friday: Tight end Vance McDonald announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday.

"My family and I are so grateful for everything NFL football has provided us in our life — all the memories both good and the difficult, the relationships and friends we've made along the way, the life lessons the game provided both me and my loved ones," said McDonald in a release issued by the team. "It's always been our dream and mission to leverage the platform given us through the NFL to help serve and uplift others along the way, and we will continue to find ways to serve others as we begin this next chapter of our lives. I am proud to retire a Steeler."

McDonald, 30, joined the Steelers via a trade with the 49ers in 2017. San Francisco had selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft.

He said he made the decision to retire before the season began, but didn't tell anyone other than his wife and a few family members.

"I did not tell anyone until after the Browns game. It was tough. There was time when I could have used it to drive home a moment," McDonald said. "I wanted to use my future retirement as that bit, but I held it and kept it within myself, my wife and a few family members."

That made the moment he told his teammates after the Steelers lost to the Browns in the postseason somewhat surreal. McDonald said he told Ben Roethlisberger, a close friend, first.

"It’s one of those very emotional moments. We were both super sad," McDonald said. "We embraced in a manly way. He was crying. I had some tears on my face. I was joyful in the moment because this was a decision I came to. 

"I looked at him and whispered, “I wanted you to know, this is it for me, I’m done.”

McDonald wouldn't say it for certain, but it sounds like he feels Roethlisberger is coming back in 2021.

"I know he can still play at a high level," McDonald said.

McDonald's retirement clears $5.2 million against the Steelers' 2021 salary cap. The Steelers held an option on McDonald this year, but were unlikely to pick that deal up.

McDonald was the Steelers' nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2020. -- Lolley

STEELERS ASK TO SPEAK
TO CHARGERS' HAMILTON

8:27 p.m. Thursday: Per Josina Anderson, the Steelers have asked the Chargers for permission to speak to quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton regarding their offensive coordinator position.

Hamilton would be the third candidate to interview for the open position, joining current Steelers quarterbacks coach Matt Canada and former Raiders and Browns head coach Hue Jackson.

Reports surfaced last weekend that Canada would be elevated to the position, but obviously those jumped the gun.

Hamilton was lauded for his work with rookie quarterback Justin Herbert this season. Hamilton, a longtime quarterbacks coach, has been an offensive coordinator twice in his career, in 2011-12 with Stanford and in 2016 with the Browns. -- Lolley

STEELERS SIGN THREE MORE WITH HASKINS
TO RESERVE/FUTURE CONTRACTS

2:45 p.m. Thursday: The Steelers officially announced the signing of three more players with Dwayne Haskins to reserve/future contracts. Those players are defensive back Stephen Denmark, tight ends Dax Raymond and Charles Jones.

Both Raymond and Jones are undrafted tight ends, while Denmark is a 2019 seventh round pick by the Bears who spent part of 2020 with the Browns. 

Like Dale Lolley and I said in this file, Haskins is just like these players in that he's merely someone the Steelers want to take a look at as they start preparing for next season. Any and all of them could end up not even being on the roster after the first training camp cuts. -- Carter

STEELERS TO SIGN HASKINS

2:05 p.m. Thursday: A report from Albert Breer  suggested the Steelers will sign quarterback Dwayne Haskins tonight after the team's interview with the 15th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. As Dale Lolley said earlier in this file, this doesn't mean anything long term. Haskins is a former first round pick with a big arm who can be brought into mini-camp and training camp and evaluated long before he ever gets a chance to play in preseason.

Shortly after that report, Adam Schefter also reported that the Steelers had signed Haskins to a one year deal.

Haskins as a 3-10 record as a starter, completing 267 passes on 444 attempts for 2,804 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions over two seasons. He's also had a track record not making the best decisions, like celebrating with fans while he was supposed to be taking a knee after a win during his rookie season and partying with strippers while not wearing a mask during the 2020 season. -- Carter

STEELERS INTERVIEWED FORMER
BROWNS COACH JACKSON

11:15 a.m. Thursday: The Steelers have been very hush-hush when it comes to the interview process regarding the open positions on their staff. But ESPN's Diana Russini said today that according to sources -- ie. an agent -- the Steelers interviewed former Raiders and Browns head coach Hue Jackson for their vacant offensive coordinator job earlier this week.

Now, things didn't work out well for Jackson in Cleveland, but as a coordinator, he was fine, including leading the 2015 Bengals to a ranking of fifth in the league in points scored.

Of course, quarterbacks coach Matt Canada also is a candidate to replace Randy Fichtner, who was not retained last week after three years as the team's coordinator. -- Lolley

STEELERS KICK THE TIRES
ON HASKINS

11 a.m. Thursday: According to Ian Rapoport, the Steelers kicked the tires on former Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins today, bringing him in to check him out.

Before you lose your minds, however, realize that they bring in street free agents to check them out physically all the time. Haskins, released last month by Washington after just two seasons, also has visited the Panthers.

The former Ohio State star and first-round draft pick of Washington has arm talent. But he's not really all that mobile. And, if the reports out of Washington are to be believed, he also wasn't the hardest worker in the world.

That was some of the same stuff said about Paxton Lynch, whom the Steelers had on their practice squad in 2019 and took to camp in 2020, releasing him before the season began. -- Lolley

STEELERS TO INTERVIEW
FRALEY FOR O-LINE JOB

10:15 p.m. Wednesday: Per Tom Pelissaro of the NFL Network, the Steelers will interview former NFL center Hank Fraley for their vacant offensive line coach job.

Fraley joined the Steelers as an undrafted rookie in 2000 but was released at the end of training camp. He was signed by the Eagles and spent 10 seasons in the NFL with Philadelphia, the Browns and Rams.

Fraley was the Lions' offensive line coach for one season, serving as an assistant line coach for two seasons there. He held the same position previously with the Chargers.

The Steelers fired offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett at the end of the 2020 season. -- Lolley

TOMLIN THANKS DANIEL
FOR HIS SERVICE

6 p.m. Wednesday: James Daniel retired at the end of the 2020 season last week after 17 seasons as the Steelers' tight ends coach.

Head coach Mike Tomlin took to Twitter today to thank Daniel for his time. -- Lolley

WATT LOSES TO DONALD
FOR PFWA AWARD

2 p.m. Wednesday: T.J. Watt finished third in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award voting last season. According to the Pro Football Writers of America, he won't win it again this year.

The organization, of which both Dejan Kovacevic and I are members, announced Wednesday that its membership had voted the Rams' Aaron Donald the Defensive Player of the Year.

The NFL Honors show will be held Feb. 6. We'll see then if Watt wins the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award there.

Aaron Rodgers was named the PFWA's MVP, while Offensive Player of the Year was the Titans' Derrick Henry. -- Lolley

CLAYPOOL NAMED 
TO ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

1 p.m. Tuesday: Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool was named to the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team for his play in 2020.

Claypool, a second-round draft pick, finished the season with 62 receptions for 873 yards and nine receiving touchdowns. His receiving touchdowns led all rookies, while he also scored two more on the ground.

Claypool, the 11th wide receiver selected in last year's draft, was joined on the first team by the Vikings' Justin Jefferson.

The Chargers' Justin Herbert was named the league's top rookie and Rookie of the Year overall, while Washington's Chase Young was the top defensive rookie. -- Lolley

STEELERS DUMP 
DUCK, CAIN, WRIGHT

10 p.m. Monday: According to NFL transactions, the Steelers have not renewed the contracts of five of their practice squad players, including quarterback Devlin Hodges, who started six games for them in 2019.

Hodges, an undrafted rookie free agent in 2019 out of Samford, was the team's No. 2 quarterback for much of 2019 after Ben Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury. Hodges completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 1,063 yards with five touchdown passes and eight interceptions, with the Steelers going 3-3 in his starts.

Also not being brought back are wide receiver Deon Cain, who was signed by the team off the practice squad of the Colts in 2019. Cain, like Hodges, was on the Steelers practice squad this season. He was on the active roster for two games but did not catch a pass.

Cain caught five passes for 72 yards, appearing in eight games and making three starts for the Steelers, all in 2019.

Placekicker Matthew Wright, who was an injury replacement for Chris Boswell for two games this season, also did not have his contract renewed.

Also released were tight end Charles Jones and veteran running back Wendell Smallwood. Smallwood was on the active roster for one game this season. -- Lolley

WATT, FITZPATRICK NAMED
TO PFWA ALL-NFL TEAM

1:30 p.m. Monday: Outside linebacker T.J. Watt and free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick were both voted to the Pro Football Writers of America All-NFL team on Monday.

It is the second-consecutive season the writers who cover the NFL have voted for that duo.

Both also were named to the All-AFC team.

This, however, is not the All-Pro team. Watt and Fitzpatrick also were named to that team, as well, while defensive tackle Cameron Heyward was named second-team. -- Lolley

HOF ELECTION COMMITTEE
TO MEET TUESDAY

10:30 a.m. Monday: With much of the Super Bowl week adjusted this year because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Hall of Fame selection committee meeting is no different.

In fact, this year, the selection committee will meet virtually. And it won't wait until the day before the Super Bowl as it usually does.

The selection meeting will take place virtually Tuesday, though results of the vote won't be made public until the results are announced Feb. 6.

Former Steelers guard Alan Faneca is a finalist for the sixth consecutive year, making the cut to 15. That list will once again be paired to 10 players and then a final vote will be taken.

Former Steelers scout Bill Nunn also is a finalist in the contributor category and is expected to receive the necessary votes for enshrinement. Nunn was instrumental in opening up pathways for players from historically black universities into the NFL, helping the Steelers tap into that previously underrepresented resource to help build the Super Bowl teams of the '70s. -- Lolley

STEELERS EXPECTED 
TO ELEVATE CANADA

3 p.m. Saturday: According to numerous reports, the Steelers are expected to elevate quarterbacks coach Matt Canada to their offensive coordinator position. If it's being reported by multiple national reporters, you can bet it's coming from the agent circle, so that is likely the case.

It is curious, however, the Steelers didn't simply announce that when Randy Fichtner was fired earlier this week. Canada was sending out some feelers with the Dolphins and there was some smoke coming back the he could be in the running for that job in Miami, but nothing has come of it.

Canada has just one season on the Steelers' staff on his resume. That's also his only year on a staff at the professional level. The Steelers implemented some of Canada's pre-snap motion offense and jet sweeps into their package early in the season, but because they hadn't had a whole offseason to work on it, once teams caught on, it was largely scrapped. 

Ben Roethlisberger also isn't the best at making it work given his relative lack of mobility at this stage of his career. But good coaches work with what they have, not trying to pound square pegs into round holes. With an entire offseason, it will be interesting if this hire goes down exactly what Canada's offense would look like in 2021. -- Lolley

MORE ON BEN RETURNING
ROETHLISBERGER BACK

2 p.m. Saturday: There are more indications today that the Steelers expect Ben Roethlisberger to return in 2021 the latest coming from Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. This, of course, falls into line with everything I've heard, as well.

Now, those conversations haven't necessarily taken the salary cap into consideration, but the Steelers -- and the rest of the NFL -- expect the cap to come in much higher than the $175 million floor that was negotiated before the season began as I wrote about in this week's Insider.

It also means the Steelers will likely work out some kind of extension with Roethlisberger that includes plenty of salary in future years, but little signing bonus. Remember, the Steelers have $171 million in cap space available in 2022. They can afford to push some salary into those seasons.

But, part of Garafolo's report also said Roethlisberger would like JuJu Smith-Schuster back, as well. That also is what he's stated over the course of the season, so this isn't necessarily news.

Given, however, that the Steelers just jettisoned Roethlisberger's hand-picked offensive coordinator, that decision might not be up to the quarterback. The Steelers also realize that Roethlisberger isn't with them for the long term, so allowing him to have a say in any long-term decisions might not be in the cards. -- Lolley

AUSTIN A CANDIDATE 
FOR DC WITH JAGUARS

4 p.m. Friday: Not only is Steelers defensive assistant Teryl Austin a candidate for defensive coordinator with the Titans, he's also on new Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer's short list to be defensive coordinator in Jacksonville, as well, according to the NFL Network.

With the Steelers letting Tom Bradley go as secondary coach, the idea was surely that Austin, who has specialized in that facet of the Steelers' defense, would continue in that role. But it might not be possible with Austin getting so much interest around the league.

One thing the Steelers could do would be to give Austin a bump up in title to keep him. They could make him their defensive coordinator, or -- and this might be more likely -- they could name him assistant head coach.

John Mitchell currently holds that title, but Mitchell effectively retired two years ago, staying on in a consulting role and working with players on on-field stuff. -- Lolley