Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: C/G Kendrick Green
Stock Value: Sold
Reasoning: The Steelers traded third-year iOL Kendrick Green to the Houston Texans yesterday in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick. There was a very good chance he was not going to make the 53-man roster otherwise, so getting any value out of him was a win.
Who called this one? Not many, I imagine. Given the scarcity of Steelers fans who seem willing to accept the idea that he deserves a job in the NFL, I don’t think many people were predicting Pittsburgh would be able to recoup a draft pick for iOL Kendrick Green via trade.
Instead of cutting him outright and allowing him to be subject to waiver claims, the Steelers were able to move Green after finding a willing partner in the Houston Texans. Which is odd, because the Texans have the second-highest waiver priority. They probably weren’t overly worried about the Chicago Bears pouncing on Green, so more likely were concerned the Steelers would keep him.
Because they probably didn’t get a good look at how Pittsburgh was using Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson this offseason, leaving plenty of breadcrumbs to indicate they had a clear path to the roster. I can only assume the offensive line would look the same as it does now even if the Texans hadn’t offered a draft pick for Green.
A 2021 third-round pick out of Illinois, he was thrust into a bad situation from the get-go. Asked to play center, a position at which he had minimal familiarity, he was clearly in over his head as a rookie starter. But the problem is, things never got better from there.
We saw the same issues he always had this preseason. He went from starting to being an inactive and now is off the roster entirely. Still, I’m happy for him that a team wanted him and was willing to acquire him. There isn’t a single part of me that wishes him ill in the slightest. If he can succeed in Houston, that’s wonderful. It just didn’t work out here.
