Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: OL Kendrick Green
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Since practices began, things have been trending in a positive direction for Kendrick Green. He has been talked up pretty well by his peers, and most importantly, he’s been running as the second-team center, insisting that he is not only more comfortable there than he was as a rookie but better equipped to handle it now.
You may not like it, but you have to acknowledge it. Kendrick Green is not going to be handed a job in September, but you would be denying reality if you disagree that his chances of making the team are looking better than they might have a couple of months ago. The drafting of Spencer Anderson didn’t help him, which we’ve already covered in a previous installment, but since then, things have been looking up.
Many, including reporters, insisted that they couldn’t even conjure up a reason that he was still on the roster, but regardless of what anyone on the outside thinks, Green right now is in the running to be the Steelers’ number two center.
He very well may not get the job, but he is in a position to earn it. J.C. Hassenauer, the team’s backup center last year, is gone, and they didn’t replace him with any other natural centers. Nate Herbig has some center capability but hasn’t played the position in a regular-season game. The other options have less experience than Green.
Some may not actually like what he had to say, but from Green’s perspective, he believes he is in a better place with his work at center than he was as a rookie when he was thrown into the fire. Aside from the time he has had to learn, he also feels Pat Meyer’s coaching is more center-friendly, and he has cited current starting center Mason Cole as a huge asset, one he didn’t have available to him two years ago.
Will he make the team? Well, he very well just might. It all depends on how he looks in July and August, of course. Playing center won’t make him any taller or magically correct some of his other shortcomings, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that he should be in a position to play his best football in 2023. Whether it’s good enough we’ll have to wait and see.
