They said it couldn't be done... but here we are. Just days after the Pittsburgh Steelers shipped OG Kevin Dotson to the Los Angeles Rams for a pair of draft pick swaps, Omar Khan has pulled off the impossible -- trading Kendrick Green to the Houston Texans.
Ian Rapaport of NFL Network confirms that the trade is for a 6th-round pick in 2025. While we would have liked to have picked up another Day 3 selection in the 2024 draft, we should credit Khan for thinking ahead. This pick is still more than what we would have expected for a player who has struggled so much early in his career.
What we do know is that Green will no longer be with the Steelers and that Khan continues to prove his brilliance with moves like this. Green was already on the roster bubble and he certainly didn't show enough to warrant a spot in year three.
Green was a player who many believed no longer possessed any sort of trade value. Despite being a former third-round pick and starting center as a rookie, the young offensive lineman only sabotaged his value over the past two seasons.
After struggling mightily as a rookie in 2021, the Steelers elected to move Green back to his more natural position as a guard. Sadly, his tiny frame and lack of anchoring strength made it impossible for Green to hold up at OG, and he was buried on the depth chart in 2022.
In a last-ditch effort to revive his career, the Steelers once again moved Green back to center this offseason. However, he showed that -- even in his third NFL offseason -- he does not have the core strength and frame to hold up.
Steelers GM Omar Khan deserves praise for trades before the cut-down deadline
Dating back to the beginning of the offseason, Green was a Steelers roster bubble player that many of us would predict would not make the final cut. This didn't end up being too far off. What we didn't know is that Omar Khan would somehow land a 6th-round draft pick for a busted experiment like Green.
This doesn't make up for the third-round pick that Pittsburgh blew on Green in the first place. However, it's important to consider that it was Kevin Colbert (not Omar Khan) at GM when the Steelers took Green.
Now between just Kevin Dotson and Kendrick Green, the Pittsburgh Steelers have managed to increase their draft capital on Day 3 over each of the next two drafts. This isn't bad for two players who may never have even seen the field in 2023.
Fans should be pleased with the aggressiveness Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl have brought to the front office so far. Let's hope for more proactive moves like this in the future.