Battling through adversity and taking a long road back to action is nothing new for Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb.
The fact that he had to do it again this season, albeit for an entirely different reason, is unfortunate. But he’s better for it.
After working his way back from a serious knee injury suffered in 2023 and getting back on the field this season to hold down a key role as a reserve inside linebacker, Holcomb was dealt another blow in his career, missing the last two games against the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers due to an undisclosed illness.
Holcomb was ruled out on the Saturday before the Colts matchup, then missed the entire week of practice before the matchup with the Chargers, reportedly being away from the team for the week, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski.
Speaking with Adamski this week, Holcomb detailed some of the challenges of the undisclosed illness.
“It was hard because it’s something out of your control,” Holcomb of the illness, according to an article from Adamski. “It’s just one of those things where you just had to let it pass. You didn’t know when it was gonna happen, and they were just monitoring it until it came back down and everything was good.”
While it’s unclear what the illness was, whatever it ended up being was serious enough to keep Holcomb out of action for two weeks. He didn’t practice Thursday or Friday ahead of the Colts matchup, listed as DNP/Illness before being ruled out that Saturday. He then followed that up with DNP/Illness all three days leading up to the Chargers matchup and was ruled out that Friday before the team traveled to the West Coast.
Then, he missed Wednesday’s practice this week while still working his way back from the illness. Though he practiced Thursday in a limited fashion, Holcomb didn’t practice Friday and was ruled out a third straight game with the illness. Holcomb told Adamski that he was “pounding fluids” trying to flush his system to help speed up the recovery process, especially after he lost some weight that he has since regained.
Whatever he was dealing with, it seemed to be behind him Thursday as he returned to practice. But the DNP on Friday has him set to miss a third straight game.
Prior to the illness, Holcomb had played 151 defensive snaps and 72 special teams snaps, grading out at a 70.9 overall from Pro Football Focus. His best performances have come against the New England Patriots, Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals, giving the Steelers an added element as a run defender on the inside while sharing time with Payton Wilson.
We’ll see what his status is moving forward, but for a third straight week, Holcomb will be on the shelf, still working his way back from an illness.
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