Santonio Holmes hasn’t even played a game yet, and he’s already looking like the Steelers’ worst 1st-round pick in about five years. At least, that’s what Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook thinks…
We know Holmes was a special player at Ohio State. That’s why the Steelers made him their No. 1 draft choice in April and signed him to a five-year, $8.11 million contract Friday, including a $5.42 million bonus. It’s also why he could comfortably wear a red Buckeye Football T-shirt around the St. Vincent College campus yesterday with “Da Man” on the back.
But we don’t know Holmes as a person. All we know is he was arrested on Memorial Day weekend in Miami on a disorderly conduct charge and again June 18 in Columbus, Ohio, on a domestic-abuse charge.
That’s why it would have been nice if Holmes had pulled a Floyd Landis yesterday and asked us to wait to judge him until all the facts of his incidents are out. Remember, he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. It also would have been nice if he had said something like, maybe, “This isn’t the way I wanted to start my career in Pittsburgh, but if you give me a chance, I’ll prove to you the type of character I have.”
But Holmes didn’t do that.
He didn’t even come close.
“I haven’t gotten any negative feedback from one person since I’ve been in town the past month-and-a-half,” Holmes said, leaving the impression he thinks it’s perfectly normal for a guy to get arrested twice.
(Thanks, Jonathan!)
