Although the Pittsburgh Steelers have not yet confirmed it, the expectation is that ILB Cole Holcomb suffered a season-ending injury on Thursday night. The fifth-year veteran in his first season with the team collided with S Keanu Neal at the end of a long pass play near the end of the first quarter.
Reverse-angle replays that were not aired showed a nasty-looking impact just at and below the knee that had Holcomb’s lower body bending in ways for which it was not designed. And the way his teammates are talking, it doesn’t sound like they expect to see him on the field again this year.
“We’re going to play for him”, fellow ILB Kwon Alexander told Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Alexander was signed just before training camp to add to the rotation and should absorb the majority of Holcomb’s snaps. “We’re going to check on him and play for him the rest of the season”.
Signed this offseason to a three-year, $18 million contract, Holcomb was brought in for his sideline-to-sideline ability, and he largely succeeded in being their every-down backer, his average hovering around 90 percent of the snaps per game.
Prior to his injury, he registered 54 tackles on the season including four tackles for loss. He also had two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and two passes defensed. This marks the second year in a row that he has potentially suffered a season-ending injury after being limited to just seven games in his final campaign with the Washington Commanders in 2022 due to a foot injury.
His absence will elevate both Alexander and Elandon Roberts—both also signed as veteran free agents this offseason—to full-time roles, and could also see an opportunity for second-year Mark Robinson to get back onto the field.
Alexander has been effective in steady work, registering 41 tackles including five for loss while playing about 60 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. He also has a sack, a forced fumble, and the game-sealing interception at the end of Thursday night’s victory in which Holcomb was injured.
“That’s a great veteran who has been in the game for a while”, CB Patrick Peterson told Rutter about Alexander. “He understands that if one play got us early in the game, the play-calling on the other side is going to keep it in their back pocket. They did pull it out, and Kwon recognized it and picked the ball off for us”.
It was the ninth interception of Alexander’s career, so it’s nothing that he hasn’t seen before, now in his ninth NFL season. He has been a crucial insurance policy at a key spot along the interior of the defense, a starter-quality rotational contributor who will now be taking on an even larger role.
