Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive will go through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and evaluating their prospects for the 2024 season. The breakdown will be in alphabetical order with at least two players per day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy of spotrac.com.
ILB COLE HOLCOMB
Experience/Age: 6th season, will be 28 later this month
Contract status: $7.64 million cap hit in 2024, signed through 2025
The past: Despite being just a fifth-round pick in 2019, Holcomb immediately became the starter for the then-Washington Redskins. He remained that way for all four seasons with the organization and was included in the short list of answers to the trivia question: “Name everyone who has started in games under all three Washington NFL franchise names.” Holcomb was also the starter at left inside linebacker for the Football Team in 2020 and 2021, as well as for the Commanders in 2022. But it was during that final season for Washington that Holcomb was limited to seven games. In December 2022, he underwent foot surgery that was season-ending for him.
But that didn’t stop the Steelers from signing him to a three-year, $18 million contract the following March. And although Holcomb missed practices during organized team activities and training camp, he was ready for the opening of training camp in Latrobe. He began the regular season as a starter, barely leaving the field and playing more than 80% of the snaps in the first half of the season while recording 54 tackles (31 solo, four for loss), two QB hits, two passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Holcomb looked like a man who – finally – solved the Steelers’ desperate search for a reliable inside linebacker who could play in any situation. He formed an impressive (if unspectacular) ILB trio with Elandon Roberts and Kwon Alexander … until November. Then Holcomb suffered a serious left knee injury in a win over the Tennessee Titans, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Damned, #Steelers LB Cole Holcomb is carted off the field. pic.twitter.com/xTjTShTkHG
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) 3 November 2023
Outlook 2024: Holcomb was an ever-present at all organized team activities and the mandatory minicamp this spring. However, he was not a full participant and missed team practices. Holcomb, coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan have all said the right things about Holcomb’s prognosis, outwardly portraying his prospects of playing in 2024 as optimistic, even suggesting he could be ready by the start of training camp.
Still, Holcomb is unlikely to repeat in 2023 and make his debut in team drills on the field at Saint Vincent. The Steelers even seemed to have prepared for that possibility by signing the most expensive outside free agent contract in franchise history, an inside linebacker (Patrick Queen), and drafting an inside linebacker (Payton Wilson) with a Day 2 pick. With Roberts also back, the Steelers likely won’t need Holcomb. But with Roberts now 30 years old and Wilson having a long injury history of his own – not to mention the recent history of the Steelers’ inside linebackers and their proneness to injury – it would certainly be reassuring for the Steelers if Holcomb was healthy and contributing as part of the position group.
We won’t know until the Steelers start training in Unity Township.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 after covering Penn State football for two seasons. A native of Western Pennsylvania, he joined the Trib in 2012 after covering Pittsburgh sports for other media outlets for a decade. He can be reached at [email protected].
