Erick
Hallett.
Erick
Hallett.
Pittsburgh· 5'11"· 190 lb
"Hallett never needed to be the fastest man on the deep half; he only needed to know, a half-second before the quarterback did, exactly where the football was going."Pre-draft read
Hallett is a free safety who patrols the deep half like a center fielder. He aligns at 12-15 yards, reads the quarterback's shoulders through the drop, and triggers the instant the throwing motion declares. His best trait is timing: he closes late enough not to tip coverage and early enough to arrive with the receiver.
Underneath, he matches slot option routes with quick eyes and short-area balance rather than recovery speed. Against the run he is a fill-and-wrap tackler who takes correct angles instead of hunting collisions, which at 190 pounds is a requirement, not a preference. The signature is takeaways created by anticipation: six in 2022 alone, all off reads rather than gifts.
Split-safety zone defense (quarters / Cover 6) that lets a free safety read the quarterback from depth
Year 1: fourth safety and four-phase special-teamer who spot-starts when a starter is down. Ceiling: a starting free safety in a quarters system that keeps him off the ball and lets his eyes work.
A box-heavy defense that plays its safeties as extra run defenders and asks him to take on lead blocks and tight ends in the alley snap after snap.
He is a coverage safety first; every snap he spends within five yards of the line devalues the trait he was drafted for.
Erick Hallet II 2022 Regular Season Highlights | Pittsburgh DB
Full senior-season reel: the deep-half reads, the closing burst on in-breakers and the takeaways that made him an FWAA second-team All-American.
Pitt's Erick Hallett II Makes The Diving Interception | ACC Must See Moment
Textbook example of his anticipation: he leaves early off the quarterback's shoulders and finishes the play at full extension.
Pitt Football | 2023 Pro Day | Erick Hallett II
Pro day workout in Pittsburgh, the pre-draft session that shaped his late Day 3 evaluation.
A five-year Pitt defender who left as one of the most instinctive deep safeties in the ACC, Hallett built his tape on anticipation. He redshirted in 2018, played a rotational and special-teams role in 2019, moved into the lineup late in 2020, then started 31 straight games at free safety across 2021 and 2022. Eyes on the quarterback, feet under him, break on the throw.
The production backs it. cfbstats credits him with 72 tackles, three interceptions and nine breakups in 2021, then 55 tackles, three interceptions and nine breakups in 2022, when Pitt also credited him with three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles for a team-high six takeaways. His signature game is the 2021 ACC Championship against Wake Forest: two interceptions, one returned 19 yards for a touchdown, and the game's MVP award. He added a two-pick day at Western Michigan. The flags were physical — a light frame, ordinary length, tackling built on leverage rather than pop.
Boards had him as a late Day 3 rotational safety and core special-teamer. Jacksonville, taking its sixth defensive player of the class, called his name at 208 as a ball-skills bet, not a projected starter.
- 01
Ball skills
Eight interceptions and 24 pass breakups over his last three seasons, including two-pick games against Wake Forest in the 2021 title game and at Western Michigan in 2022.
- 02
Deep-half processing
Reads the quarterback's shoulders and route distribution rather than the receiver, letting him leave early on in-breakers without tipping the coverage rotation.
- 03
Turnover production
Team-high six takeaways in 2022 counting three interceptions and three fumble recoveries, plus two forced fumbles, all created by anticipation rather than volume.
- 04
Availability and continuity
Started 31 consecutive games to close his career and never missed a start once he entered the 2021 lineup, a durability record that scouts trusted.
- 05
Positional flexibility
Took his first 2020 start at cornerback before sliding to safety, and he covered slots at Pitt, giving him legitimate two-spot value for a depth defender.
- 01
Play strength
A 190-pound frame shows up on stalk blocks and in the alley, where tight ends and pulling linemen can wall him off before he reaches the ball carrier.
- 02
Tackling force
He wraps and drags more than he strikes, and bigger backs break through arm contact when he arrives without a running start behind him.
- 03
Recovery gear
Ordinary long speed means his anticipation has to be right the first time; when he guesses wrong on a double move the deep third opens behind him.
- 04
Box versatility
Never a full-time nickel or dime linebacker, so a defense that asks its safeties to play in the run fits every snap loses value with him on the field.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Pittsburgh | 12 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2020 | Pittsburgh | 10 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2021 | Pittsburgh | 14 | 72 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
| 2022 | Pittsburgh | 13 | 55 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
| Career | — | 49 | 171 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 0 |
2020, 2021 and 2022 verified line by line at cfbstats.com (Pittsburgh team id 545, player id 1096571): 10 games / 30 tackles (20 solo, 10 assisted) / 2.0 TFL / 2 interceptions / 4 breakups / 0 forced fumbles; 14 games / 72 tackles (45-27) / 2.5 TFL / 3 interceptions returned 19 yards with a touchdown / 9 breakups / 2 forced fumbles; 13 games / 55 tackles (42-13) / 3.0 TFL / 3 interceptions / 9 breakups / 2 forced fumbles. cfbstats hosts no Pitt page before 2020, so the 2019 row (12 games, 14 tackles, 2 breakups, one start at Syracuse) comes from the official Pitt bio; his TFL, interceptions, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries that season are unpublished and carry null rather than zero. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2018 and played no games, so no 2018 row exists. Fumble recoveries come from the Pitt bio (one in 2021, three in 2022); 2019 and 2020 are unpublished and stay null, so career fumble recoveries and forced fumbles also stay null. No source credits him with a college sack and cfbstats publishes no sack table for him, so sacks are null, not zero. Career TFL is null because 2019 is unverified; the three verified seasons sum to 7.5. Documented discrepancies: the Pitt bio lists 70 tackles in 2021 and 54 tackles with four TFL in 2022, where cfbstats has 72 and 55 / 3.0 - the cfbstats numbers are used here. Verified seasons sum exactly to the career line: 12+10+14+13 = 49 games, 14+30+72+55 = 171 tackles, 2+3+3 = 8 interceptions and 2+4+9+9 = 24 breakups.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Light-framed ball-hawking safety who bounced through practice squads and carved out years of spot-start and special-teams work.
Another undersized Pitt safety whose instincts and takeaway production carried him into a long starting run.
Late Day 3 defensive back whose lack of play strength kept him a rotational body and cutdown casualty.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The pro run has been a practice-squad grind. Jacksonville waived him at the 2023 cutdown, kept him on the practice squad all rookie year, re-signed him to a reserve/future deal, then waived him again in August 2024. Detroit signed him to the practice squad, released him that November, brought him back in December and re-signed him for 2025. Waived again at Detroit's 2025 cutdown and re-signed to the practice squad, he was elevated to the active roster in October 2025. He debuted at Kansas City, then started against Tampa Bay on October 20, 2025, playing 62 snaps and leading the Lions with eight tackles for the injured Kerby Joseph and suspended Brian Branch. Detroit waived him in November; Tennessee signed him off the Lions practice squad in December 2025. Through 2025 he owns 4 games, 22 total tackles and 12 solo stops. Tennessee waived him in August 2026 and re-signed him to the practice squad two days later.
In hindsight, pick 208 paid off the way sixth-round safeties usually do: three years of roster churn and one week that proved the college instincts translate. The tape read was right on both sides. The anticipation that made him an FWAA second-team All-American showed up in his first start; the frame and play strength that pushed him to Day 3 are why he keeps getting waived at cutdown. He is a real NFL depth safety still waiting on a defense that will build him a role.