Exit Meeting: ILB Cole Holcomb
Experience: 7 Years
Cole Holcomb has been through a lot the past three years, but the Steelers want him back for more, evidently. After concluding his initial three-year contract, he already re-signed on a new one-year deal. A lot has happened since then, though—which is an understatement, considering his career nearly ended.
Signed in 2023 to be a starter, Cole Holcomb suffered a severe injury midway through the season. He didn’t play at all the following year, though he was starting to get healthy enough to play late that season. Finally, he took the field again for the first time in OTAs in 2025.
It would be fair to say it took Holcomb time to knock off some rust after missing so much time. In all, he played 14 games last season, making three starts with 198 defensive snaps. Importantly, he embraced a special teams role, logging 161 snaps there. He hadn’t played more than 31 snaps there since his rookie year. And he played 31 snaps in the eight games before his knee injury with the Steelers in 2023. The Commanders took him off special teams almost entirely after his rookie year.
Combined, Holcomb registered 37 tackles last season and forced a fumble. He struggled somewhat in coverage, including giving up a touchdown in limited playing time. But the Steelers are not bringing him back to return him to the starting lineup. He is here to serve as valuable depth and contribute on special teams.
Pittsburgh has Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson for the starting lineup, and Malik Harrison rotates in on run downs. Cole Holcomb rejoins Carson Bruener as likely primarily special teams contributors. Harrison is also a key special teams contributor, but he had a bigger role on defense last season.
I don’t know that I see the roles of those two switching, though it’s not impossible. Holcomb is another year removed from injury, and now he has a season under his belt, too. The Steelers’ coaching staff has changed radically, yet his position coach is the one defensive coach they retained. But will new DC Patrick Graham see more in him and raise him to the third inside linebacker spot? That might end up being one of the top backup competitions this summer.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves licking their wounds after yetanother early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, but with major change coming. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we willgo down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? The resignation of Mike Tomlin makes those questions much more difficult to answer, but much more important. We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
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