Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: ILB Cole Holcomb
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Along with a highlight-reel pass breakup, Cole Holcomb put together a solid overall game against the Las Vegas Raiders. While not every down was perfect, he was consistently around the ball and in on his share of tackles.
It’s nice to be able to include an inside linebacker in this series in a positive way during the regular season. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I did that a year ago with Devin Bush, Myles Jack, and Robert Spillane manning the position.
Overall, this group feels like it has a much higher floor, especially as they gain comfort. We’ve seen that progressing on a weekly basis, and especially from Cole Holcomb, who was the Steelers’ biggest offseason acquisition amid their offseason turnover at the position.
He has put together two strong weeks now, at least if you give some grace for a handful of negative plays here and there. And I do, because his weak points have been of the aggressive variety rather than the passive, as had been the norm for last year’s group.
His two big plays were a tackle for loss in which he was able to shoot the gap and stop RB Josh Jacobs in his track and a pass breakup on which he had the opportunity to put a lick on WR Davante Adams. Dropping beautifully 20 yards off the line of scrimmage, he timed the collision on the deep-hole shot perfectly to separate man from ball cleanly.
All is not perfect in his game, granted, but there is a good foundation there for a consistent, regular starter, perhaps even on a long-term basis. He has the football intelligence and the instincts. He has the athleticism and the physicality. He even has the hair. What more could you want?
Well, more consistency, and a little better tackling on average. He can have lapses in zone coverage. There’s a reason the Steelers didn’t pay Holcomb seven figures per year to bring him in, and it wasn’t because he was recovering from an injury.
But he looks like he’s going to be a good addition. He’s already contributing in a positive way and living up to the scouting report we had on him when he first came in. Now it’s a matter of continuing to build on his performance.
