To much the surprise of those in attendance for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Friday Night Lights practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium, OL Kendrick Green took several snaps at fullback. After FB Monte Pottebaum decided to abruptly retire, the team has no true fullback on the roster with Connor Heyward mainly sticking to his TE spot. Green managed to make a couple of big blocks on the snaps he did play and even caught a pass for first-down yardage.
While the experiment with Green as a lead blocker yielded intriguing results, Green mentioned after practice that he doesn’t expect his role as a fullback to continue past Friday’s practice.
“It’s just something coach wanted to see, it might be the end of it,” Green said, according to Jeff Hathhorn of 93.7 The Fan. “It was a good time. It was fun. We knew we were doing that today, it may have been a today thing only.”
Green represented himself well when in the lineup as a lead blocker, having successful blocks on EDGE players Quincy Roche and Toby Ndukwe. While Green may have acquitted himself well at a new position, it doesn’t sound like an official position switch is coming for the backup center.
Green has always been an athletic offensive lineman but has struggled from the neck up when it comes to technique and execution. Thus, playing as a lead blocker where he just blows up the guy right in front of him would make sense for a player like Green, who could figuratively compare to what the Baltimore Ravens have in FB Patrick Ricard, a pumped-up lead blocker himself.
Regardless of if this was Green’s only run at fullback or if Pittsburgh may sprinkle in some usage of Green in short-yardage and goal line situations, Green was able to live in the moment and steal the spotlight on Friday night. For a player that has been heavily criticized since getting drafted, Green had all of Steelers Nation’s attention for one night, having fans ponder the thought of what could be with position change for Green.
