Are the Steelers Making a Mistake Re-Signing an Injury Prone Linebacker?
In the late morning of Monday, March 9th, 2026, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced that they would be re-signing inside linebacker Cole Holcomb to a two-year, five-million-dollar deal. Holcomb is coming off a 2025 campaign in which he recorded 37 tackles and one tackle for loss in 14 games played, with three starts. This deal is of incredible value for Pittsburgh, as they are able to keep a veteran linebacker on a team that struggles at that position. The contract comes at a very low price, taking up only a small portion of their available $45 million cap space. Holcomb’s 2025 season is remarkable. He returned after missing all of 2024 with a knee injury suffered halfway through the 2023 season. Many believed the injury could be career-ending, but Holcomb persevered and came back. Injuries have appeared throughout Holcomb’s NFL career, both with Washington and Pittsburgh. Through seven seasons, he has played just 72 of a possible 117 games, which is only 62%. He has not played a full season since his rookie year in 2019.
Despite his injury history, Pittsburgh believes Holcomb adds value to this defense. The inside linebacker group is led by Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson, two players who have fallen short of expectations under former defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. With a new and improved approach under Patrick Graham, there are high hopes that these players, Holcomb included, will become superstars. Holcomb also received the 2025 Ed Block Courage Award from Steelers owner Art Rooney and his peers during the 2025 season. The move to re-sign Holcomb carries some risk, or at least invites a wait-and-see attitude. Many Steelers fans believe this could pave the way for Queen to be released or traded out of Pittsburgh. Queen’s time with the Steelers has been full of missed tackles, bad alignments, subpar coverage, and generally below-average play. He is also set to have a cap hit of over $17 million in 2026.
When Holcomb is healthy, he has the capability to be a very strong defender. In the 2021 season, with Washington, Holcomb recorded 142 total tackles, two tackles-for-loss, one sack, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, seven pass deflections, and two interceptions, one of which was taken back for a touchdown. Holcomb, still just 29, has a lot of potential and upside to return to his days of stardom in Washington. Chris Halicke, a Pittsburgh sports reporter, believes that Queen will not be cut, but rather that the Steelers will release Malik Harrison, saving $4.75 million in cap room. Harrison and Holcomb served as alternating third linebackers for Pittsburgh, as Queen and Wilson acted as the Starters. Before re-signing, Holcomb was the only free-agent linebacker on the Steelers’ roster, giving head coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham a lot of room to work with moving forward. Whether Pittsburgh releases Queen, Harrison, or neither, the return of Holcomb adds a determined and powerful veteran presence that can teach and lead Pittsburgh's younger linebackers like Wilson and Carson Bruener to a successful linebacker group that has previously been tormented in the pass-game and pummeled in the run-game.
