Late in the first half of the Week Nine Thursday Night Football matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, veteran Steelers’ linebacker Cole Holcomb went down with a rather gruesome knee injury after taking some friendly fire from teammate Keanu Neal.
Neal’s leg swung and inadvertently hit Holcomb in the knee, resulting in the injury that caused the veteran linebacker to be carted off with the injury.
NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported the morning after the injury that Holcomb’s season was over and that he was discharged from the hospital after staying overnight as a precaution following the injury.
Prior to the injury, Holcomb was playing rather well after coming over from Washington in free agency, looking like a long-term answer at the inside linebacker position for the Steelers after years of searching for one.
Holcomb’s injury was the first in a line of injuries that depleted the Steelers’ inside linebacker room. One week after Holcomb went down, Kwon Alexander tore his Achilles tendon. Later in the season, Elandon Roberts dealt with injuries that hampered him, leading to the Steelers leaning on Myles Jack, Mykal Walker and Mark Robinson to fill holes at the position.
Despite the Steelers at least getting by late in the season without the key faces at the position, they have questions at linebacker entering the 2024 season. One of those is Holcomb’s health.
Head coach Mike Tomlin addressed Holcomb’s health Thursday during his year-end press conference, stating that Holcomb has a “target date” for returning though it has never been announced what the nature of Holcomb’s injury is.
“He has a target date in terms of readiness there, but it’s still probably early,” Tomlin said to reporters Thursday, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “I’ll have a more definitive posture on that probably when we get closer to OTAs and we start speculating about some of those things then.”
Of course, it is far too early to start speculating about Holcomb’s recovery. Especially when the nature of his injury is unknown.
But his health and a potential readiness for the 2024 season is key. So far, there really hasn’t been any updates.
Prior to the injury, Holcomb was having a great year after signing a three-year, $18 million deal with the Steelers. Holcomb had 54 tackles, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two passes defensed and four tackles for loss, playing 447 snaps on the season. He graded out at a 64.2 overall from Pro Football Focus, including a 72.2 in run defense and a 55.2 in coverage.
We’ll see what Holcomb’s health looks like moving forward. With Roberts and Robinson the only other linebackers under contract for the Steelers entering the 2024 season, the position will remain a major need for the Steelers.
