Can the former Pittsburgh Steelers starter show enough to crack the roster as a reserve?
The Buffalo Bills love an offensive lineman who can play multiple positions. If there’s a lineman described as “versatile” entering the NFL Draft, I’m almost certain that we’ll have a chance to use that cool picture of general manager Brandon Beane with the sunglasses — you know the one — at some point when discussing that player.
Even if a player hasn’t shown that he can play multiple spots on the offensive line, that doesn’t stop the Bills from cross-training players, especially those who are younger and who are looking to make the team as reserves. Look at Alec Anderson, a player the Bills list at tackle but played at center often throughout the 2024 preseason. Ryan Bates, a former Jack-of-all-trades who started games at both guard spots, was another player who played multiple spots on the offensive line.
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we discuss another versatile offensive lineman — a younger veteran with experience all along the interior.
Name: Kendrick Green
Number: 53
Position: C
Height/Weight: 6’4”, 315 pounds
Age: 26 (27 on 12/22/2025)
Experience/Draft: 5; selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round (No. 87 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft
College: Illinois
Acquired: Signed with Bills on 3/14/2025
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Green signed a one-year deal with the Bills, a pact worth $1.2 million overall. He’ll carry a cap hit of just $1.06 million if he makes the 53-man roster, and the Bills will have no dead-cap charge if they release him prior to Week 1. As a vested veteran, however, his whole base salary — $1.17 million — becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster for Week 1.
2024 Recap: Green spent the 2024 season with the Houston Texans, who acquired him in a trade with Pittsburgh for a 2025 sixth-round draft choice (That pick ended up No. 202 in this past April’s draft, and it was used by the Minnesota Vikings on tight end Gavin Bartholomew. The selection was traded quite a few times!). While he appeared in all 17 regular-season games, he mainly played special teams. He started one contest, Houston’s 31-2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens late in the regular season, and played over 50 snaps in relief in two other games, a Week 9 loss to the New York Jets and a Week 16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Green was active for the Texans’ playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers, but a healthy scratch for their Divisional-Round loss to the Chiefs.
Positional outlook: Green is one of three players on the roster listed at center, joining Jacob Bayer and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. Note that doesn’t include the team’s actual center, Connor McGovern, who is listed at guard. Given that Green can also play guard, he’ll also be competing with David Edwards, O’Cyrus Torrence, Mike Edwards, and Rush Reimer for a roster spot.
2025 Offseason: Green has participated in all offseason activities to date.
2025 Season outlook: After earning a starting gig as a rookie, Green’s career has taken a turn for the worse in the years since. Attempts to move him to guard have been unsuccessful in the sense that he hasn’t been able to stick in either Pittsburgh or Houston, but that doesn’t mean that he has zero chance of making the Buffalo roster. The Bills don’t have a ton of true interior offensive line depth, and what they do have is very unproven.
Buffalo could like what they see from Green this summer and keep him in a healthy-scratch role on the 53-man roster. They could also use him as the active interior reserve on game day, although it’s likely that sixth offensive lineman Alec Anderson will be the true “first man in” if an interior lineman suffers an injury.
Green is likely battling with second-year man Sedrick Van Pran-Granger for a roster spot, and while I’m sure that the Bills want SVPG to be the guy given that they drafted him last season, the fact that they signed a young player with starting experience in Green plays right into the Brandon Beane handbook of building offensive line depth.
Green is a good athlete who could benefit from the strong coaching that he’ll receive from Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer. He’s a bubble guy who I expect to be a priority veteran practice-squad signee, but with a strong preseason, he could make a push for the initial roster.