There was a lot of excitement to see Kendrick Green during Pittsburgh’s preseason opener Friday night (words I never thought I’d type), but Green was a major letdown. While he’s gotten some reps at fullback in training camp, his main priority was to show the coaching staff he could be a capable backup center, and that was not what he did. His night can be defined by one sequence where he was called for a holding penalty, had a bad snap that almost caused a turnover, and was driven into QB Mason Rudolph for a sack.
On the KDKA Nightly Sports Call after the game, former Steelers DL Chris Hoke said that Green showed he can’t be relied on.
“It was one bad play after another and you can’t have plays like that, especially now that you’re a veteran, you’re a third-year guy,” Hoke said. “You have to be cleaner than that. You can’t let a drive snowball like that because now you’re showing the coaches, are you someone that can hold it together? Can we rely on you? And tonight he showed that he can’t be relied on. So he has some work to do to make up some ground in the coming weeks.”
After getting work at fullback for the week leading up to the game, Green was nicknamed “fat slash” by Max Starks, obviously comparing him to QB/WR Kordell Stewart. But Stewart could stick in the NFL as a quarterback or a wide receiver. Green showed last night that he still can’t really play center. He looked just as bad, if not worse, than he did as a rookie.
Green had a great opportunity to put himself closer to a spot on the 53-man roster, something that seemed pretty unfathomable a few weeks ago. Instead, he flopped, quickly getting replaced at center by Nate Herbig, who seems primed to be the team’s backup center.
No matter how good Green might look as a fullback, it doesn’t matter if he can’t be a capable offensive lineman. He wouldn’t get enough opportunities at fullback to make it worth keeping him on the 53 if he can’t be a guy the Steelers can rely on if they need him to fill in along the offensive line. As Hoke said, he’s shown he can’t be.
Now, Green is going to need two of the best performances of his life in the team’s remaining preseason games to even have a shot of making the roster.
