The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded former third-round pick, offensive lineman Kendrick Green, to the Houston Texans, according to Zachary Smith of Steelers Now.
The Steelers will get a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft in return from Houston, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Green, the team’s third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, did not ever pan out as a center in the way the team hoped. He was the starting center throughout his rookie season in 2021, but struggled mightily in making the transition both to the NFL and from guard, which he played in college, to center. He was replaced late in the year after an injury by journeyman backup J.C. Hassenauer.
In 2022, he lost his starting job to free agent Mason Cole, and moved to guard, where he remained on the roster, but was rarely active on game days and did not appear in a single regular season snap.
This spring, with Hassenauer moving on in free agency, the Steelers moved Green back to center to once again try him there, as the Steelers had built up a massive amount of depth in front of him at guard.
They also used him at fullback in training camp, to some success, but Green needed to be able to make the roster as a backup center for that project to work, and he continued to show inconsistency with his snaps.
The Steelers do not have an obvious backup center for their roster at this point, as No. 3 center Ryan McCollum was released on Tuesday. But guards James Daniels and Nate Herbig have both played center in NFL games, and the team started to give rookie seventh-round draft pick Spencer Anderson a look at center toward the end of the preseason.
Green is the second player to be removed from the Steelers’ roster on Tuesday, and they now sit at a total of 68 players. They must cut down on the regular-season limit of 53 players by 4 p.m.
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