With the Steelers’ 2023 offseason underway following a disappointing season that came up just short of reaching the playoffs, it’s time to begin reloading, through the free agency process, through the draft, and perhaps even through trade.
This is now a young team on the offensive side of the ball, though one getting older on defense, and both sides could stand to be supplemented robustly, including in the trenches—either one. Changes have been made to the coaching staff, even if not all of the desired ones, as the roster continues to renew with the weeks ticking by.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
Topic Statement: Cole Holcomb will be the best inside linebacker not named Vince Williams the Steelers have had since Ryan Shazier.
Explanation: Let’s face it, the inside linebacker position has been a carousel since Ryan Shazier was injured in 2017. Vince Williams and Robert Spillane presented some modicum of stability, but Williams retired, and Spillane was just sort of there. Around them was a parade of one-and-dones like Jon Bostic, Mark Barron, Avery Williamson, and Myles Jack.
Buy:
The bar is low enough to take a swing at this one, if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphor. The Steelers’ inside linebacker room has simply been subpar for a while now, outside of Vince Williams, so if anybody even looks like they deserve to come back next season, it’s a win.
Cole Holcomb has talent that hasn’t even been fully tapped yet, talent that can be better exploited in the Steelers’ defensive scheme than was accessible in Washington. He’s not going to be the next Shazier, but that’s not the subject at hand. He’ll rack up 125 tackles with a couple sacks, maybe a forced fumble or two and an interception, and we’ll finally be glad to have a linebacker on the roster for consecutive years.
Sell:
Like it or not, but Robert Spillane was the best linebacker not named Vince Williams since Shazier. He got more flak for his coverage than he deserved, even if the team put him in some situations he shouldn’t have, yet he’s made some plays, including a pick-six. He saved a touchdown with a pass defensed just last year.
If we were to take health out of the equation, which of course we can’t, then the answer would and should have been Myles Jack. In his first seven games with the Steelers, he put up 68 tackles, including two for loss, two passes defensed (one of which also saved a touchdown), a handful of pressures, and a quarterback hit. He would probably still be here if he could just stay healthy. But that’s why he’s still looking for a job.
And Holcomb may well be looking for a job this time next year as well. We don’t even know if he’s going to be healthy. He’s still rehabbing from foot surgery. While he has more athleticism than Spillane, they are similar players, though, but Spillane has the instinctual edge.
