If the Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in a pinch during the Wild Card round of the 2024 playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens, they may have had reinforcements available. Cole Holcomb spoke to the media for the first time since his serious knee injury in the 2023 season and talked about his readiness at the end of last season.
“I felt good, but talking, probably wouldn’t have been the best idea,” Holcomb said in a video by Pittsburgh’s DSEN on YouTube. “But I felt ready if they needed me. Mike T. [Tomlin] was like, you look good. If they needed me, I would’ve been ready. But they didn’t need me. So everybody stayed healthy.”
Holcomb was initially injured in Week 9 of the 2023 season. When Mike Tomlin spoke to the media ahead of training camp last year, he said that they expected all players to be healthy and ready to go. There was a brief period where it seemed possible that Holcomb would participate in training camp, but he ended up opening the season on Reserve/PUP at the end of training camp.
It’s unclear when exactly he was deemed healthy enough to return, but we know for certain that he would have been ready in a pinch in the playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens. Perhaps if they had won a game, he would have ended up contributing in the divisional round.
His presence in that game against the Ravens probably wouldn’t have made a difference, but they sure could have used another solid run defender as they got gashed for 299 rushing yards.
Holcomb remained close to the team while injured and even traveled with them to some away games. HBO’s Hard Knocks showed him behind the scenes multiple times with the team while he was out during the season.
In 2023, the Steelers had awful luck with health at the ILB position. That completely turned around in 2024 with all three players playing all 18 games, including the playoff loss.
Elandon Roberts is no longer on the roster, but the Steelers added former Ravens LB Malik Harrison on a two-year, $10 million contract. Holcomb will be competing for a role in a crowded and highly talented ILB room against Harrison, Patrick Queen, and Payton Wilson.
When healthy, Holcomb was starting to look great in black and gold. His last complete game was a 10-tackle performance with a fumble recovery, and he had two forced fumbles and four tackles for loss, along with his 54 total tackles in a little over seven games played.
The ILB group is suddenly among the deepest and most talented units on the entire team. Don’t count Holcomb out after his long battle back from injury.
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