The Pittsburgh Steelers signed ILB Cole Holcomb last offseason as part of a near-total rebuild of the room. They released Myles Jack and let Devin Bush and Robert Spillane walk in free agency. In addition to Holcomb, they also signed Elandon Roberts, and eventually Kwon Alexander. Neither Alexander nor Holcomb, however, finished the season, both due to injury.
Alexander is no longer under contract, but Holcomb is. Their signal-calling linebacker last season, there are indications that they’re not planning on having him available this year. He suffered a major knee injury midseason a year ago about which we’ve received few details—perhaps by design.
“My understanding is it’s not just a simple ACL tear and they’re being very vague on what the specific injury is”, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor said on the Adam Gold Show yesterday. We can’t know what she bases her understanding on, of course, but I’d like to think it involves some facts. Presumably, she’s spoken to people familiar with Holcomb’s situation and has some details that are not public.
We can probably reasonably assume that Holcomb did tear his ACL, but the nature and mechanism of injury certainly raises the possibility of additional damage. We do know that at least as of mid-March, he managed to resume some level of workouts. Does that mean he’ll be playing football in September? I’m certainly not qualified to say or even speculate by any stretch of the imagination.
But the Steelers have put themselves in a position in which they don’t have to rely on Cole Holcomb. They made a huge splash by signing Patrick Queen in free agency, a 2023 All-Pro from a division rival. In the draft, they added a Butkus Award winner in Payton Wilson. While teams have concerns about his long-term durability, he should play without restriction in 2024. After all, he has done so for the past two seasons already, and we can’t see into the future.
Wilson fell to the third round only because of these injury concerns. But if manages to stay healthy, he is potentially a long-term answer at the position. The Steelers have a long-term option in Queen already, who is only months older than Wilson. Roberts is a sufficient short-term option as well. But Holcomb is an unknown, which makes Wilson appealing.
“I think this is in some ways insurance for the Cole Holcomb signing and gives them a starting-caliber inside linebacker to play when the season gets started, because Holcomb’s recovery timeline isn’t quite clear”, Pryor said.
The Steelers made it very clear that they felt they needed to address the inside linebacker position this offseason. General manager Omar Khan said as much at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, after which they signed Queen. But they continued to do extensive work on the 2024 NFL Draft class at linebacker as well.
Wilson is probably one of the players they studied most, including bringing him in for a pre-draft visit. The Steelers also met with him at the Senior Bowl, and clearly feel comfortable with him. More comfortable than they seem to feel about Holcomb’s prospects for 2024, evidently, and perhaps beyond that.
