Mike Pouncey, 70 pounds lighter, honored by Dolphins, in turn honors VP Jason Jenkins

MIAMI GARDENS — Mike Pouncey is lighter now — so much lighter that your first instinct is to make sure the guy you’re looking at is indeed Mike Pouncey.

Mike Pouncey also is softer now. That’s nobody else’s impression of him, but an admission he makes about himself.

But one thing hasn’t changed and never will.

Mike Pouncey is a Dolphin.

Pouncey, 33, signed a one-day contract Thursday to retire as a Dolphin, even though the last snap he took as an NFL center was for the Chargers in 2019. Pouncey held a news conference at the Dolphins’ training facility in which he called it “one of the greatest achievements of my life” to receive the honorary ceremony by the team that drafted him in the first round in 2011.

It was an upbeat gathering that wasn’t short on laughs, including when he fielded questions about his new look, which suffice it to say puts him in the same weight class as the Dolphins’ punter, not any offensive linemen. He’s down to a svelte 228 pounds, 70 lighter than his playing weight.

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In a news conference filled with nostalgic references that brought frequent smiles from Pouncey, one moment stood out. He was asked about his relationship with Jason Jenkins, the Dolphins’ universally respected senior vice president who suddenly died of a blood clot at age 47 in August.

“Man, I hate that you brought it … ,” Pouncey said before pausing. He turned the microphone over to his twin brother, Maurkice, also a Pro Bowl center, for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I’m over here crying because of Jason, too,” Maurkice said before buying his brother a couple of minutes to compose himself.

“I do want to say this, though, now that I’m a little bit better,” Mike said to conclude the news conference. “To Jason Jenkins’ family: I wish them the best, because for what Jason did for this community, what he did for the Miami Dolphins, is irreplaceable. There’s nobody that’s going to be able to replace that man.”

Pouncey shrugged off his emotional response by joking, “Retirement makes you soft as hell.”

Brothers go from eating ‘like pigs' to eating ‘like rabbits'

Physically, at least, both Pouncey brothers are anything but soft. They took a vow that in retirement, they would challenge themselves to slim down as fast as possible.

“We stopped eating all the carbs,” Mike said. “We stopped eating six, seven times a day. Honestly, everyone’s asking all the time, like, ‘How do you guys eat?’ I say like rabbits. … Back when we were playing, we were eating like pigs.”

Whatever they did worked. Mike made the Pro Bowl four times, three as a Dolphin. In fact, since Pouncey arrived, no player drafted in the first round by Miami has made the Pro Bowl in Dolphins colors. He’s also the only Dolphins offensive lineman to make the Pro Bowl at more than one position, having also been honored as a guard.

Mike might have more Pro Bowl honors to his name if not for Maurkice taking that slot in the AFC nine times in addition to two All-Pro honors. Yet Maurkice said, “I always thought Mike was the better player. I know I got a lot more of the recognition.”

Maurkice added, “Mike’s path was a lot harder than mine. You know, I played with Big Ben (Roethlisberger), Antonio Brown, Le’Veon (Bell), all the great players. So I think that for him to have that success and the way he’s viewed down here meant a lot more to the family.”

Mike Pouncey becomes tailgating fan of Dolphins

The family business today has many tentacles. The brothers own a hotel together. Real estate. They recently invested in Tropical Distillers, a colorful, 30-seat bar/tasting room in Allapattah, near the trendy Wynwood section of Miami. The brothers have young kids active in sports, but there’s one other activity that keeps Mike occupied on fall Sundays.

“Coach (Mike) McDaniel has brought back excitement to the Dolphins,” Mike said. “I mean, I was tailgating in the parking lot. I was doing it all. I was a real fan.”

At one point in Mike’s career, the Dolphins featured four former first-round draft picks on the offensive line. For most of the time since his departure, they’ve been challenged to come anywhere near that level. But Mike saw progress last season, calling left tackle Terron Armstead “a big-time pickup” and leader. He praised Connor Williams for making the same shift he did from guard to center. Williams now has a chance to solidify the position in ways no Dolphin has since … Mike Pouncey.

“I just want to be remembered as not just a guy that was here,” he said. “That gave everything he had, was a leader, was respected and loved by his teammates and community. And outside of that, I mean, the rest of it was on tape.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com and followed on Twitter @gunnerhal.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Is that Mike Pouncey? Ex-center, 70 pounds lighter, honored by Dophins