Player: ILB Cole Holcomb
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The veteran inside linebacker, working his way back from a serious injury, received another positive update. While still generalized and ambiguous, the team is seeing the work Cole Holcomb is putting into his rehab. Given his progress up to this point, a return to the field in 2024 should not be surprising.
The Pittsburgh Steelers went out and spent big in free agency this year on Cole Holcomb’s position. They signed Patrick Queen to a three-year deal worth well more than twice as much as Holcomb’s a year prior. Now, Queen is twice the player Holcomb is, if we’re talking in more objective terms.
But I think Holcomb still has a place in this defense if he can simply get healthy. After suffering a serious knee injury in the middle of the 2023 season, that has seemed like less than certain. However, his recent rehab updates are only growing more encouraging. At this point I expect him to be on the field for the Steelers in 2024, though perhaps not for the opener.
“Can tell you Cole’s working extremely hard to get back”, general manager Omar Khan said on Monday. “I don’t really have much, much to add on the timeline”, he admitted, though they’ve offered no timeline. “We’ve discussed this. It was a major injury, but he’s working hard and I’m optimistic about all the effort he’s gonna put into getting back on the field in terms of adapting”.
Holcomb logged 447 defensive snaps in eight games before going down. By then, he’d already recorded 54 tackles, including four for loss, with two forced fumbles and two passes defensed. He seemed to be growing more comfortable and more impactful by the week.
A week after Holcomb, Kwon Alexander also suffered a season-ending injury and the unit fell apart. Elandon Roberts kept it together the best he could, but the Steelers had to rely on veterans off the street.
While they now have Queen to pair with Roberts, Holcomb is arguably the third player once he’s healthy. They also have Mark Robinson going into his third season, whom they’re willing to play, it seems, albeit sparingly.
Many believe the Steelers could add another inside linebacker during the 2024 NFL Draft. They’ve done homework on this year’s class at the position, and there is room to accommodate one within the depth chart. They’re likely not counting on Holcomb being available this year, however, even if they are hopeful. Since they don’t know they’ll have him, they have to proceed accordingly.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
