Would be interesting to know what he lost in terms of lean muscle vs body fat. He wasn’t chunky by any means before and long term carrying that much muscle mass just isn’t food for the joints.
I have a cousin who played nose tackle for OSU in the early 90’s. He was pretty damn good and might have been able to at least get on a practice squad bust chose to preserve his hands and become a surgeon (probably the better move). Anyway, he was pretty big in college and trimmed down in a fashion similar to Joe.
Surprised you don’t see more lineman do it, but I suppose most are probably burnt out by the end of their career and just stop working out.