Steelers' 2015 Draft Selection Blames Mike Tomlin's Coaching Staff For Ruining His Quick NFL Career

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the more consistent organizations overall when it comes to the draft year in and year out. Just like every franchise, there are going to be busts every now and again, but in the 21st century, former General Manager Kevin Colbert and current leader of the front office Omar Khan have both done a respectable job. One of the more difficult things to do for an NFL team is find value in the later rounds, specifically the sixth and seventh. Most times, individuals taken in the final round don't ever end up seeing legitimate playing time at the professional level.

One of the more interesting developments in the sports media landscape in recent years has been the ability of any and all athletes to appear on podcasts in order to give their thoughts, beliefs and opinions. Even former players who failed to have a ton of success will hop on shows to discuss their times in whatever respective league it is that they played in.

The name Gerod Holliman may not ring a bell to many Steelers fans, but he was drafted by the team in the 2015 NFL Draft. The University of Louisville product had a staggering 14 interceptions during his final year with the Cardinals in 2014. This would lead one to believe that he was a highly-sought-out prospect, but he wasn't drafted until Pittsburgh grabbed him with the 239th overall pick.

Johnluis Hernandez had Holliman on the 31 Vision podcast to talk about his decorated high school and college football careers. Unfortunately, Holliman didn't pan out in the NFL, and he believes part of the reason why is because of the Steelers' coaching staff.

"Unfortunately, [my] time there was mismanaged by the defensive backs coach," Holliman said. "He really never gave me a chance. I never even started one preseason game. I pretty much - the playing time I had was equivalent to the first half of a game if I was a starter. That's how bad it was."

It's easy to assume that Holliman is referring to former defensive backs coach Carnell Lake with his comments. With that said, Lake wouldn't have had the overall decision-making power in regards to which players would start preseason games. It would be a fair assumption to say that Head Coach Mike Tomlin was involved in a lot of the decisions when it came to the defense, as he still is in the present-day.

Holliman detailed how shocked he was that he ended up falling to the seventh round. One would certainly think that anyone intercepting 14 passes during his final collegiate season, regardless of the situation, would be worth a flyer in one of the earlier rounds. The Steelers gave him a chance, but that didn't matter, and he is still perplexed about his fall on draft weekend.

"It was mind-blowing. The coaches were saying, 'he's not a team player'. This is coming from the scouts; they're telling my agent, my agents telling me. They're saying 'he's not a team player' and all this bad stuff.'"

It's unfortunate that Holliman never was given the benefit of the doubt, but also hard to believe that Pittsburgh's coaching staff is the reason why he wasn't able to pan out at the professional level. Players can perform in college, but not translate to the NFL, and that's apparently what 31 other teams as well as the Steelers saw in Holliman back in 2015. Holliman went into even more detail about his short stint in the Steel City.

"I came in as a draft pick and I was fifth-team on the depth chart, behind guys who were smaller, shorter, slower," Holliman detailed. "They used them at nickel and corner. [The Steelers] put [their] nickel and corner in front of me at safety... They were all getting the reps."

It does seem interesting that Holliman wasn't really given too much of an opportunity to show the coaching staff what he was capable of. Unfortunately, he would only be with Pittsburgh for a short period and ended up as a free agent his rookie campaign. He hopped on board with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in December of the same year, and then went on to receive a reserve/futures contract with Tampa Bay, but nothing ever came to fruition for the defensive back afterwards.

Assuming Holliman was referring to Lake, he gave a little more context to the story and even said that a coach told him that pretty much the only thing he could do was apologize.

"The only thing the coach could tell me at the end of the day was he's sorry. Sorry for mismanaging my playing time and stuff like that. I definitely don't want to hear this," Holliman said. "This is my life you're playing with. You mismanaged the playing time."

The comments from the former seventh-rounder surely seem like he is ripping into Lake and the entire coaching staff at the time. A positional coach won't necessarily determine the playing time, but Tomlin and then-first-year Defensive Coordinator Keith Butler would have.

Steelers' 2015 Draft Class As A Whole Was One To Forget

Bud Dupree was really the only legitimate professional player that came out of Pittsburgh's draft class in 2015. Jesse James and Anthony Chickillo had some success, but nothing really to write home about. It's sad hearing that a guy like Holliman feel as if such a tremendous organization did him wrong, but the reality is that most players drafted as late as he was never see too many snaps in the first place.

Do you believe that Tomlin's coaching staff and Lake never gave Holliman a chance? Let us know in the comments below!

#SteelerNation