PITTSBURGH – Kendrick Green grew up wearing No. 53. Still, the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie center wasn't so sure if it would be available after the team selected him in the third round of the NFL draft.
The number, after all, belonged to nine-time Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey for more than a decade until his abrupt retirement at 32 in February.
Green wondered if the Steelers might take it out of circulation for a year or two in deference to one of the best offensive linemen of his generation. “I was fully prepared for them to keep it off,” Green said Friday.
Only they didn't. So Green gladly accepted it, and all the pressure that entails. “I've got big shoes to fill,” Green said. And he might have to do it quickly.