Selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Illinois, Kendrick Green was viewed — at the time by the front office and coaching staff — as a ready-made starting center who could be the next-in-line after the retirement of Maurkice Pouncey.
That went very, very poorly in 2021 for Green and the Steelers. That performance as a rookie left the Steelers no choice but to move on from Green as the starting center, relegating him to a gameday inactive the entire 2022 season.
Now, two weeks into training camp, the Steelers are giving Green another shot — at fullback.
That development in Latrobe has former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger happy for Green and appreciative of him doing whatever is necessary to not only make the team, but help the team try and win.
“The guy that they drafted, and I love this guy, so this is not a knock on him; I love Kendrick Green. He was a great guy, good teammate. Loved to have played with him; he was my center my last year. They drafted that guy to be my center. Well, last year he didn’t even dress. And now they have him playing a little bit of fullback,” Roethlisberger said on the latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast. “I think good for him to find a way to get on the field. Like he could say, ‘you know what? I’m not the starting center anymore. I’m not in the backup center. I don’t even know what I’m doing. Quit.’ But he is like, no, hey, how can I help the team?’
“But it’s still funny that that’s the guy they got for me. Kevin Colbert and them drafted him to be my center my last year. And now he’s playing fullback, so good for Kendrick.”
The experiment with Green at fullback — we’ll call it that still for now, even though it looks like more than an experiment — started last season with the Steelers when Pittsburgh was preparing for the Week 17 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers needed someone to imitate Baltimore fullback/defensive end Patrick Ricard, which led to Green getting some looks.
That then carried over into training camp with Green debuting publicly at fullback/H-back during the Friday Night Lights practice at Latrobe High School. Though it was downplayed at the time by Green himself, him at FB/H-back is looking more realistic in game-like settings.
Wild to think how drastically different Green’s future in Pittsburgh is now compared to where it was entering training camp. As Roethlisberger said, good on Green for being open and willing to take on the opportunity — and running with it, so far.
We’ll see how it looks in a game setting on Friday night in the Steelers’ preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. In fact, that might be the thing fans are looking forward to seeing the most in a preseason game.
Who’d have thought that the center drafted to follow Pouncey for Roethlisberger would all of a sudden be a fullback three seasons later though? Goes to show you how big of a whiff that was at the center position for Kevin Colbert and Co., but credit to Green for doing everything in his power to stick in the NFL.
