The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kendrick Green just before adding Dan Moore Jr. in the 2021 NFL Draft. Moore is going into his contract year and seems likely to retain his starting job for now, while the Steelers traded Green last year, having long ago lost his starting job.
Now Moore is preparing to work with another rookie center the Steelers are throwing into the starting lineup, Zach Frazier. A second-round pick, he is the last man standing after Nate Herbig suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Moore understands how hard that is—especially for his draft classmate, Green.
“He was in an unfortunate situation”, Moore told Brooke Pryor about Kendrick Green recently for ESPN. “Being a guard in college and then having to make that transition to center and having to be the guy Day 1. Obviously, it is a tough task, and it hurt his development a lot. We had to skip a lot of things in the process just to get him ready for Week 1, and it kind of sped his development up a little bit, so he wasn’t really able to learn the little nuances and techniques a center may have to learn”.
A third-round pick out of Illinois, Kendrick Green started the first 15 games of his rookie season before suffering an injury. He would not play another snap for the Steelers, spending 2022 as a healthy scratch. Almost as a distraction, they experimented with moving him to fullback last year before shifting him via trade.
The Steelers sent Green to the Houston Texans at the end of August and ended up facing him in October. He played decently in that game but ended up with a season-ending injury—playing at guard, of course. Entering Texans training camp in the best shape of his life, he vied for a starting position. Based on what I’ve read, however, it doesn’t sound as though he made much headway. I even see him listed as a potential trade candidate—again.
Moore obviously feels a certain empathy with Kendrick Green, having come in with him in the same class. They both started as rookies, playing earlier and more than they should have. Moore was supposed to be the swing tackle, but injury shifted the Steelers’ plans. As for Green, well—they should have just started J.C. Hassenauer.
But Moore knows with Zach Frazier’s extensive playing experience and center background, he has a clear leg up on Green as a rookie coming in fresh and starting from Day 1. “With Zach already having 37 starts at center in college, that helps a lot on coaches not having to coach him as much. He understands the position just a little bit more”, he said. Or, you know, a lot of bit more.
