The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season is now in the books, and it ended in spectacular fashion—though the wrong kind of spectacular—in a dismal postseason defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, sending them into an early offseason mode after going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North for the first time in three years.
Since then, they have lost several players in free agency who were key members of the offense and defense, and multiple starters retired, as well. They made few notable additions in free agency, and are banking on contributions on offense from their rookies, as well as perhaps a last ride for Ben Roethlisberger.
The only thing facing them now as they head into 2021 is more questions, and right now, they lack answers. They know that they have Roethlisberger for one more year, but was that even the right decision? How successful can Najee Harris be behind a questionable offensive line? What kind of changes can Matt Canada and Adrian Klemm bring to the offense? And how can the defense retain the status quote with the losses of Bud Dupree, Steven Nelson, and Mike Hilton?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all of their uncertainty.
Question: What do you think of Pro Football Focus rating Kendrick Green the 23rd-best center in the NFL?
Pro Football Focus has been posting best-of-position lists lately, with the list of the top 32 centers heading into the 2021 season going up yesterday. Their rankings included rookies, and the Steelers’ Kendrick Green, a third-round pick, made the cut, even while they had no tackles on the top tackles list.
Green, who spent the majority of his time in college playing guard, was ranked 23rd out of 32, in spite of the fact that he has never taken an NFL snap before. Creed Humphrey was also on the list, and was ranked at 16, just making the top half of the league.
Needless to say, this is a highly speculative list, but there is some optimism surrounding Green, who is expected to at least win the starting job for the Steelers this year. Aside from the obvious conversation about whether or not it even makes sense to include rookies on such a list, though, how do you feel about the ranking itself?
I do think Green is going to win the job and will play well. I think he’ll be at least toward the middle of this list next year, if not in the top half. But going into his rookie year, I could see how his lack of extensive experience actually playing center in games could hurt his ranking in such an endeavor as this—debates aside as to its merits.
