Center Maurkice Pouncey is making it official. Pouncey announced his retirement after 11 seasons with the Steelers. His twin brother, Mike, also announced his retirement.
Mike Pouncey played 10 NFL seasons with the Dolphins and Chargers.
A nine-time Pro Bowl player, Maurkice Pouncey was named first-team All-Pro three times and second-team twice. He also was a member of the NFL's all-decade team for the 2010s, an award that is voted on by the selection committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only Joe Greene, with 10, was selected to more Pro Bowls as a member of the Steelers.
Pouncey announced his retirement in a statement obtained by DKPittsburghSports.com.
Mike Pouncey released a similar statement.
Pouncey's retirement leaves the Steelers offensive line in flux. Long a staple of the team, the line will undergo major changes. Foster retired after the 2019 season. And left tackle Alejandro Villanueva and Matt Feiler, a starter the past three seasons at both right tackle and right guard, are both slated to become unrestricted free agents.
That could leave David DeCastro as the lone holdover from a nucleus that had been together for the better part of the past decade.
Mike Tomlin thanked Pouncey for his years of service with the team.
"I want to congratulate Maurkice on his retirement," Tomlin said in a statement released by the Steelers. "He has been a leader in our locker room for over a decade and I respect him so much for all he accomplished during his career. His efforts on the field are matched by his dedication and commitment to the Pittsburgh community and the Lakeland (FL) community. He has done so much for his teammates and the entire organization, and I wish him all the best to he and his family in which I know he will continue to be successful in every aspect of life. Much love, Maurkice."
Pouncey was a first-round draft pick of the Steelers in 2010, when he was taken 18th overall. He had been a consensus All-American at Florida before that, helping the Gators to a national title in 2009.
He immediately became a starter for the Steelers in 2010, though he suffered a high ankle sprain in the playoffs that season that kept him from appearing in the team's Super Bowl loss to the Packers. He appeared in 134 career games, all of them starts.
Injuries would trouble Pouncey at different times in his career, often because of the mobility that made him one of the NFL's best offensive linemen.
In 2013, he suffered his most serious injury, ironically at the hands of a teammate. While getting to the outside to throw a block on a running play in the team's regular season opener, DeCastro attempted to dive at the legs of a defender out on the edge, hitting Pouncey's knee instead. Pouncey tore his ACL and MCL on the play and missed the remainder of the season.
Then, in 2015, he suffered a broken fibula in a preseason game against the Packers when safety HaHa Clinton Dix rolled into him from behind, costing him the entire season and nearly costing him his leg. Following surgery, an infection set in and doctors were forced to perform multiple operations to save the leg.
It was a similar situation to what happened to Washington quarterback Alex Smith, who last weekend was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year after sitting out two seasons and undergoing multiple surgeries.
But Pouncey returned in 2016 to play at a high level despite the issue and was the heart and soul of the Steelers offensive line.
Pouncey had been contemplating retirement since the Steelers' season ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Browns. He and Ben Roethlisberger sat for several minutes on the bench after that game, long after the rest of the players had cleared the field, with TV cameras capturing the quarterback telling Pouncey, “I’m sorry, brother. You’re the only reason I wanted to do this, man. Oh, I feel worse for you than me. I hate it, man.”
Roethlisberger posted a tribute to Pouncey on Twitter.
I don't have the words...I love you and thank you. -- Ben. pic.twitter.com/QcUl132mMd
— BigBen7.com (@_BigBen7) February 12, 2021
Pouncey's retirement will clear $8 million in salary cap space for the Steelers in 2021. He was slated to count $14.475 million against the team's cap next season.
And with the Steelers set to be around $30 million over the cap and needing to be under by March 17, it does take a significant chunk off that number.
But it also leaves the Steelers with a significant hole at center. The only other center on the roster with NFL experience is former undrafted rookie J.C. Hassenauer, meaning finding a center in the draft in April could become a major priority for the team.
