The Pittsburgh Steelers have designated three players to return ahead of their Week 18 regular-season finale. WR Roman Wilson, LB Cole Holcomb, and DL Logan Lee all returned to practice Tuesday, opening up the team’s 21-day window to activate them from injured reserve or Reserve/PUP.
93.7 The Fan shared video of Wilson and Holcomb back in action.
Holcomb returns after missing the latter half of 2023 and all of 2024 with a severe knee injury suffered last year against the Tennessee Titans. Though recovering and rehabbing since, Holcomb hasn’t participated in any on-field activity with the team until now. It’s a great step for him even if he’s unable to officially re-join the roster and appear in an NFL game this season.
In eight games before his injury last year, Holcomb was an impactful player. He recorded 54 tackles, forced two fumbles, and had one fumble recovery.
Roman Wilson suffered a hamstring injury midseason and has been on injured reserve since. The team’s third-round pick out of Michigan, his rookie year has been defined by injuries. First, an ankle injury suffered during the first padded practice of training camp followed by the hamstring injury during the regular season. Wilson has appeared in just one game this season, playing five offensive snaps against the Las Vegas Raiders. He did not catch a pass.
Lee has been on injured reserve since the regular season began, placed there with a calf injury ahead of the Steelers’ Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Pittsburgh’s sixth-round pick out of Iowa, Lee had a nondescript training camp where he often was miscast as a true 3-4 nose tackle due to injuries along the defensive line. He has yet to appear in a regular-season game.
Holcomb remains on Reserve/PUP while Wilson and Lee are still on injured reserve.
The Steelers can activate any of these players at any time. But it’s doubtful they’ll do so ahead of the Cincinnati game. Instead, they’re taking advantage of the extra “to return” slots they have to them to get players practice reps. And if Pittsburgh goes on a playoff run, perhaps one of these players could join the roster. The Steelers will also have two more “to-return” slots open up for the postseason, perhaps allowing OT Troy Fautanu to return.
