Cole Holcomb is among the Steelers’ most vulnerable veterans to miss the 53-man roster this season due to personnel turnover. Including some 2024 free-agent signings, veteran players lose jobs to the incoming class every year. The Steelers could see some pretty significant roster turnover in 2025, though, and in fact, they have already started.
After the efforts of last season, the Steelers will be examining their roster closely in August. Frankly, if there is a tie between a returning veteran and a new player, the new one may well win. Especially in certain areas of the roster, like the defensive line, they want to try something different.
Cole Holcomb
Cole Holcomb accepted a pay cut to stay with the Steelers, but that wasn’t a guarantee—it was an opportunity. In taking the cut, Holcomb gave himself a chance to remain on the team and compete for a roster spot. The Steelers know that he is now healthy; what they don’t know is whether he can still play.
The Steelers signed Cole Holcomb as a free agent not just to play but to start. He signed a three-year deal in 2023, and was the every-down linebacker for the first half of that season. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe knee injury along the way and has yet to play again since.
Holcomb spent all of the 2024 season on the Physically Unable to Perform List. However, the Steelers have since said that he is healthy, so the question now is about performance. Availability, for the first time since mid-2023, is no longer an issue.
What is an issue beyond performance is competition. The Steelers haven’t stopped adding linebackers since signing Holcomb. In the past two seasons, they have signed Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison and drafted Payton Wilson and Carson Bruener.
That right there could be the Steelers’ inside linebacker room this season without even getting to Cole Holcomb. And then there is still Mark Robinson, who is a special teams standout. And that matters, because I don’t think they are going to try to put Holcomb on kick-coverage duties. Not after what he has been through with his knee.
Still, even if he makes the team, it’s unclear what his role will be. The Steelers are already trying to figure out what to do with Payton Wilson and Malik Harrison, so where does Holcomb fit in? If he would function exclusively as a “break glass in case of emergency”-type backup, then I’m not sure there’s a roster spot for him.
And I’m not sure there will be a huge market for him elsewhere. Then again, Kwon Alexander recovered from his injury and played a bit in 2024. Not for the Steelers, though, and now he isn’t with any team at the moment. Will Cole Holcomb be looking for work come September? I’m sure they would offer him a spot on the practice squad, at worst. Or, for all we know, he ends up in the starting rotation.
