Former Pittsburgh Steelers OL Kendrick Green provided some red meat for the fanbase yesterday as he prepares to face the team that drafted him tomorrow. Having been traded to the Houston Texans shortly before the regular season, he told reporters that he’s “glad I’m not there anymore”.
He should be. And I mean that in the nicest and most sincere way possible. He didn’t have a good time here. Of course he should be glad to be in a place where he’s getting to play.
We’ve talked about this before, but while Green shares a tremendous amount of the blame for his failure to make it in Pittsburgh, the Steelers did him no favors. They had the naïve impression that he would be a fitting successor to Maurkice Pouncey as their next athletic center, but that’s never who he was going to be—which is even easier to see in hindsight.
Divorce yourself for a moment from your fandom for the Steelers. Disregard your knowledge of Green’s history of play, and just put yourself in his shoes while bearing in mind his timeline in Pittsburgh. There have been few players over the past three seasons more reviled than he has been. Nobody wants to be on a team where the fans hate him.
The only time Green has been popular in the past two years has been when he was playing fullback in training camp. He became a fan favorite for a very brief window of time—up until he got back into the lineup along the offensive line.
Now, let’s be clear. Green played his way off this roster with his poor performance. The Steelers only moved Green because they knew that he didn’t belong on this roster, and I’m sure they were thrilled to be able to get a 2025 sixth-round pick back for him.
But if you’re him, how could you not be glad to get out of this situation? He needed a change of scenery for the sake of his career, perhaps just for his mental health. He’s in a better place for him now. He failed here, and with his level of play, there was no redemption arc available that the team would reasonably explore.
Now in Houston, he’s actually getting to play. Is he suddenly better than he was? No, he’s not. He’s struggling, although he hasn’t given up a lot of pressure in the pass protection game yet. Facing his former team will be a real test for him and may open the Texans’ eyes.
I really have no idea what the pulse is in Houston about what the fans there might think of Green. I’m imagining it’s not super high. But he doesn’t bring with him all the baggage he lugged around in Pittsburgh, and that can only be good for him.
Let’s remember this: he was drafted to be the successor to a likely future Hall of Fame center, a position at which he wasn’t comfortable. He had three different offensive line coaches, with different schemes, different quarterbacks to boot. He just wasn’t ready for what was thrown at him here, and it’s on Pittsburgh for not identifying those issues in advance. If he were a sixth-round pick, like the one they got back for him, nobody would bat an eye. But because of who he was supposed to be and how he got here, he’s red meat in Pittsburgh today.
