Behind scenes, ex-starter Kendrick Green works to ensure Steelers don’t forget about him
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Despite some good fortune in getting a somewhat unlikely rookie opportunity, it isn’t accurate to say things came too easily for Kendrick Green last season.
But it also isn’t truthful to say Green’s life with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022 is awful, either.
“I am staying positive,” Green said earlier this week after a bye-week practice. “Some things get frustrating, but some things you can’t control. So I come here every day, do my job and just keep working on my craft. That’s all I can do.”
At this point last year, Green was midway through a rookie season in which he was the starting center for each of the Steelers’ first 15 games. That’s no small feat for a third-round pick, particularly for a team that was good enough to make the playoffs — and even moreso for a player whose bulk of college experience had come at guard.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Green said in explaining the naivete he experienced amidst a whirlwind rookie season. “If I knew what I know now. … ”
Green’s voice trailed off. And then he continued.
“It was just a lot. Getting thrown in there, playing a new position, learning the offense and trying to get guys on the right page, the guards and tackles, trying to help them out so we knew where we were going and what we were doing — doing the stuff centers are supposed to do, and doing it at this level.
“It was definitely hard, but it is what it is. This is what happened. I didn’t play that well, so now I am where I am at.”
Where Green is now — during games, at least — is in street clothes watching. Green joins No. 3 quarterback Mason Rudolph as the lone members of the 53-man roster who have been a gameday inactive for each of the Steelers’ eight contests.
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Green spent the final three games (including the playoffs) of last season virtually the same way (albeit in uniform). Though a calf injury contributed, by the end of the season the Steelers promoted J.C. Hassenauer over Green as the starting center.
That was the beginning of the indignities for Green in the 2022 calendar year.
Two months later, the Steelers signed veteran Mason Cole to be their new starting center.
When training camp arrived, Green wasn’t repping at center but at left guard. That was a welcome development to Green on face value, as was that he was getting more first-team reps at the position than anyone.
But after a dismal performance in the Steelers’ second preseason game, Green was slotted behind Kevin Dotson. Dotson has been the starting left guard since, and the Steelers have been dressing Hassenauer and Jesse Davis as backups at the interior line spots.
So over a nine-month span, Green lost not one but two starting jobs and then lost out to two others for backup gigs. That could be enough of a shot to the psyche to affect anyone’s demeanor. But Green, by most accounts, hasn’t let it him get too down.
“Nothing really has changed with him,” Dotson said. “He hasn’t changed attitudes or anything like that. He hasn’t been down in the dumps. He’s just been working while he waits.”
Green also has made himself leaner, he said, shedding fat while adding muscle and staying the same playing weight.
“He’s improved himself,” first-year offensive line coach Pat Meyer said. “It’s not like he’s got his head down and he’s not working. He’s working to get better.”
“I talked to him when we walked off from practice (Tuesday) — ‘You need to get better at this. Here is what you work on, this individual thing, this individual technique.’ He’s receptive.”
There is no indication the Steelers are planning to make a lineup change along the interior offensive line, so at this point, Green’s only chance of playing (or even being in uniform) this season would be because of injury. But 2023 holds hope for a player the Steelers just 18 months ago had hand-picked as the replacement for Maurkice Pouncey, a potential future Hall of Famer.
“Last year, (then-offensive line coach Adrian Klemm’s) philosophies and techniques were completely different than what Pat Meyer’s are. So switching back and forth — and then, switching positions, at that — it was kind of like starting from ground zero again,” Green said. “It’s frustrating, but it’s what I get paid to do, so I’ve got to do it.”
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