Ladarius Green will be back with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2017 season.

Despite missing 13 games (including the postseason) due to a head injury and last year's offseason ankle surgery, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert said that he is confident that Green will be OK and ready to go for the upcoming season. After providing a temporary spark to Pittsburgh's offense, Green was lost for the year after sustaining a head injury against the Bengals in Week 15.

"(We're) excited about being able to come back and play," Colbert said of Green, according to Steelers reporter James Wexell. PennLive.com writer Jacob Klinger added that Colbert feels that the Steelers "absolutely" got their money's worth in Green in 2016, as Pittsburgh signed the veteran tight end to a four-year, $20 million contract last offseason that included a $4.75 million signing bonus.

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Green was certainly a playmaker when healthy in 2016. He played a major role in three of Pittsburgh's wins during the team's seven game winning streak to close out the regular season, specially in the Steelers' victories over the Colts (two catches, 67 yards that set up two touchdowns), Giants (six catches for a career high 110 yards and a touchdown) and Bengals (five catches for 72 yards that included two big third down catches in the second half). He gained a quick rapport with Ben Roethlisberger, who praised Green's football acumen.

"He understands football," Big Ben said of Green during an interview with 93.7 The Fan near the end of the regular season. "When people have asked me about the improv and the ad-lib, the backyard type football, you either have it or you don't. Heath Miller had it, AB (Antonio Brown) has it. We've had guys that just get it, guys that when you're going out and playing backyard football, they're your first pick. Well, to me right now, it looks like Ladarius has it."

Late last month, Green told Steelers.com's Teresa Varley that he has no plans to retire despite his rash of injuries that plagued his first season in Pittsburgh.

“I am going to do what I do every offseason, go back and train and work and try to get ready for next year,” Green said. “It was one of those years. It seems like every player has one where things just don’t go right. Hopefully next year works out better than this year did.”