The Pittsburgh Steelers came to terms with the final member of their 2015 draft class when they signed 7th round pick Gerod Holliman to a 4 year contract. Although terms of the deal were not released, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s Mark Kaboly reports that per the NFL’s rookie wage scale, the approximate value of Gerod Holliman’s contract would $2.4 million over four years including a signing bonus of approximately $58,000.
As a 7th round draft pick, Holliman is in no way guaranteed a roster spot, but should he make the team his salary cap hit for this season would be $450,000. If he fails to make the team, the entire value of Hoilman’s $58,000 signing bonus would count against the Steelers salary cap.
Video Highlights from Gerod Holliman at Louisville
Now that Gerod Holliman’s contract with the Steelers is complete, additional video highlights are in order.
In word ladies and gentleman of Steelers Nation, Mr. Holliman is one defender who knows how to find the ball. Last year for Louisville, Holliman pulled down an NCAA record tying 14 interceptions. Indeed, Holliman’s was so hot coming out of the regular season, that NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah analyst mocked Gerod Holliman to Steelers in the first round.
It didn’t work out that way, and as Dan Sanger of USA Today’s Steelers Wire explains “the reason a decorated played like Holliman lasted into the draft’s final round is simple; teams aren’t sure if he can tackle.” In that light, Holliman is reminiscent of Scott Shields, another Steelers safety draft pick from yesteryear. Shields was incredibly athletic and could take away the ball, but unfortunately, he shied away from contact.
- Gerod Holliman faces mixed prospects for making the Steelers 2015 roster.
As a pure numbers game, the Steelers have Michael Mitchell, Shamarko Thomas, Will Allen, Robert Golden, and Ross Ventrone returning from the 2014 roster. Theoretically, Troy Polamalu’s retirement opens a spot, but the Steelers carried 6 safeties on their final 2014 roster, and are unlikely to carry that many.
- Five safeties might even be a high number for the Steelers to carry going into 2015.
The flip side is that of all the names mentioned, only Mike Mitchell is the only safety guaranteed a starting job (and give the Steelers recent interest in D.J. Swearinger it might be fair to say that Mike Mitchell is the only safety assured a roster spot.)
That means that Gerod Holliman’s opportunity with the Steelers is only limited by what he can make of it.
