Kendrick Green (born December 22, 1998) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

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of the

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(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

and was selected by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

in the third round of the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

Early life

Green grew up in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

and attended Peoria High School, where he was a member of the baseball, football, and wrestling teams. Green was named first-team All-State as a senior after recording 113 tackles, including 33 for a loss, 15 sacks and four forced fumbles as Peoria won the 2016 IHSA 5A state championship. Green committed to play

at Illinois over an offer from Iowa.

College career

Green

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season and moved from defensive tackle to offensive line. Green started all 12 of the Illini's games at left guard as a redshirt freshman. He started all of Illinois' games at left guard again in his redshirt sophomore season and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference as well as an honorable mention

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(PFF). As a redshirt junior, Green started three games at center and five games at guard in the

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shortened 2020 Big Ten season and was named first-team All-Big Ten and a second-team All-American by ''

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''. Following the end of the season, Green declared that he would forgo his redshirt senior season and enter the

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

2021 season

Green was drafted by the

in the third round, 87th overall, of the 2021 NFL draft. On July 20, 2021, Green signed his four-year rookie contract with Pittsburgh. Heading into

organized team activities In the National Football League (NFL), training camp refers to the time before the season commences. During this time, teams sometimes congregate at an outside location, usually a university, to conduct training camp for at least the first few w ...

and his first NFL

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

, Green was listed as the starting center for the Steelers on their training camp depth chart. He faced minor competition from veteran J. C. Hassenauer for his starting job. At the conclusion of the NFL preseason, head coach

Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led t ...

officially named Green the Steelers' starting center. Green made his first career start and NFL debut in the Steelers' Week 1 victory over the

. He played in 95% of the offensive snaps in that game, 100% of the offensive snaps in Week 2, and 89% of the offensive snaps in Week 3. Green would play 100% of the Steelers' offensive snaps in every game from Weeks 4–15 and 63% of the offensive snaps in the Steelers' Week 16 loss to the

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. In that game, he suffered an injury that ultimately kept him out of the final two games of the season. Overall, Green finished his rookie season appearing in 15 games (15 starts), playing in 96% of the Steelers' offensive snaps on the season and posting a 53.1 grade from PFF. He committed 6 penalties total, including 4 holding penalties, in what was an overall rough rookie season.

2022 season

The Steelers moved Green from center to guard in his second season. He competed in the preseason with Kevin Dotson for the starting left guard position, but Dotson prevailed. Green spent the entire season on the active roster, but was a game day inactive for all 17 games.

Houston Texans

On August 29, 2023, the Steelers traded Green to the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

for a 2025 sixth-round pick. He was placed on injured reserve on October 4, after suffering a

torn meniscus A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

in Week 4.

Buffalo Bills

On March 14, 2025, Green signed a one-year contract with the

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bioIllinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Kendrick Living people American football centers Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Illinois Fighting Illini football players Players of American football from Peoria, Illinois Pittsburgh Steelers players 1998 births Buffalo Bills players