Bills sign 310-pound guard who played snaps at fullback for Texans
The Buffalo Bills' entire offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL last year is under contract for 2025.
Buffalo signed guard Kendrick Green to a one-year contract to add depth on Friday.
Green, 26, is coming off two seasons with the Houston Texans. He played 21 games, including all 17 games in 2024, for the Texans.
Green was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round, No. 87 overall, of the 2021 draft. Green was a first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American selection as a guard at the University of Illinois. Pittsburgh tried to convert him to center to replace nine-time Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey. They thrusted Green into the starting lineup in Week 1 at a position and scheme he had little experience in. It didn't go well.
Green started 15 games at center as a rookie and played 977 offensive snaps but he posted a 53.1 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. It was the final year of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's career.
Pittsburgh moved Green back to guard but he was inactive for all 17 games in 2022. The Steelers worked out Green at fullback during training camp in 2023 before shipping him to Houston for a 2025 sixth-round pick.
Roethlisberger commented on Pittsburgh burning a third-round pick on a player that didn't play a snap in his second year.
"I love this guy so this is not a knock on him. I love Kendrick Green. He was a great guy, good teammate. He was my center my last year. They drafted that guy to be my center. Well, last year, he didn’t even dress," Roethlisberger said on his podcast, Footbahlin. "And now they have him playing a little bit of fullback. I think good for him to find a way to get on the field. He could say, you know what, I'm not the starting center anymore. I'm not even the backup center. I don't even know what I'm doing. Quit. But he's like no, how can I help the team.
"But it's still funny that's the guy they got for me. (Former general manager) Kevin Colbert and them drafted him to be my center my last year. And now he is playing fullback. But good for Kendrick."
For many reasons, Thursday was such a frustrating game. Roethlisberger is practically begging Kendrick Green to snap the ball, who even looks back at Ben. Turner is tapping him too.
— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) December 13, 2021
He just doesn't do it. #Steelerspic.twitter.com/1iPvo7tQXs
Green started three games at guard for the Texans in 2023 before suffering a season-ending meniscus tear against his former team in Week 4.
Green saw action in 17 games, with one start, in 2024, finishing the season with 178 offensive snaps and 79 on special teams.
Houston was intrigued by Green's combination of size and speed. The 6-foot-3, 310-pounder played seven snaps at fullback as the lead blocker for Joe Mixon in the Texans' victory against the New England Patriots in Week 6 last year.
"Kendrick, in particular, he’s got speed, he’s got twitch and he jumps off the tape with how he moves, how quick he goes and he’s really tough," Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said the following week,
Green was one of the most athletic lineman in his draft class. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.89 seconds, had a 35.5-inch vertical jump and recorded a 9-foot-11-inch broad jump at the 2021 NFL Combine.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills sign Kendrick Green, guard who played for Houston Texans
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