2 More Former Steelers Players Divulge Their Thoughts On Kendrick Green Switching To The Backfield

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a tremendous offseason, adding both free agents and rookies. This leaves them with a depth battle at several positions, a wonderful problem to have. One player who will be battling for a spot during camp is Kendrick Green. 

Green, an offensive guard, was selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. In his first season, he was thrown to the wolves and slotted at center, a position he had only played a handful of times in college. He understandably struggled in the 15 games he started and played. Green played in 96% of the snaps in 2021 and had a Pro Football Focus grade of 52.4. He had nine penalties and allowed three sacks. 

During the 2022 season, Green was moved back to guard, but Kevin Dotson beat him out in training camp. Green never saw the field. 

Former Steelers Chime In On Moving Kendrick Green To Fullback

While most people were assuming that Green would be heading out of the Steel City, one former player had an idea of what Green could do to prolong his time with the team. 

Steelers linebacker, Vince Williams, caused the internet to go wild by suggesting that the team move Green to fullback. 

He doubled down on his original idea by making a comparison to a former Pro Bowl Steelers fullback. 

"I honestly do think Kendrick Green would be a ridiculously good fullback. A bigger Rosie Nix." 

Now other former Steelers are weighing in on whether Green and the Steelers should give him a shot at fullback, including Arthur Moats, Terrance Garvin, and Ramon Foster. 

Foster hosts a podcast called The Ramon Foster Show. He discussed Williams' idea with his co-host Dejan Kovacevic. During a recent show, which aired on DK Pittsburgh Sports, Foster, who played offensive guard, shot the idea down.   

"Vince Williams said that. I get his logic behind it. This is a young man that wants to play offensive line. If you put him on the field in big packages and stuff like that - tight red zone, third and one, fourth and one, having the ability to get an extra push at the line of scrimmage, yes. But a primary fullback? No. You know where I'm going with this one, I reserve that role for Connor Heyward because then you become multi-faceted with what you can do with a guy like him on the field. You're a liability at putting a big offensive lineman on the field that probably doesn't have good hands catching the ball."  

Moats also hosts a podcast, The Arthur Moats Experience, and recently he had one of his former teammates, Terrance Garvin as a guest and they also talked about Williams' tweet.

Neither Moats nor Garvin was as immediately opposed as Foster, but they were a bit confused as to how he would fit. Garvin expressed concern that it would cut into Connor Heyward's playing time. Heyward has been a kind of hybrid tight end/fullback/halfback since joining the team. Moats says his understanding is that Heyward isn't just playing as a fullback. 

"[Matt] Canada has said that he's gonna do more than just fullback. He's more of a h-back, because they've lined him up in the slot."

Moats says he sees that Garvin isn't closed to the idea of moving Green. Garvin agrees that players must try everything they can to stay on the roster. Moats also makes a comparison to Roosevelt Nix, but in a different way. 

"So you were here when Rosie Nix got here and Rosie wanted to play linebacker. Coach talked to him, put him in fullback and we've seen the type of career that he was able to have. If he were to stay at linebacker, his career probably doesn't go anywhere near the height that we saw it go to."

He goes on to list all the other players on the Steelers roster that are in front of Green. He asks Garvin, do you sit tight and hope for an injury so you get a shot, or do you do something different?

"I like him at fullback. I think you give him a chance."

Moats agrees saying that he thinks Green brings something unique to the table with his size, calling it a benefit, not a detriment. 

"You can run well, you have great size for a fullback and not every linebacker is going to want to hit you when you're coming from depth. That's different than you being at guard on the offensive line and it's a step here, step there. When you coming from a fullback, you got time to get some speed up, you got time to think about it. If you're the defender, I don't know if everybody gonna want to hit that."

Do you think Green fits well at fullback? How would you envision all that working with Heyward and Washington? What do you think about Green's time in Pittsburgh? Click to comment below. 

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