New Steelers LB Cole Holcomb ‘Ready to Go’ after Foot Surgery

New Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Cole Holcomb said he is fully healthy after a foot surgery ended his 2022 season, and is ready to start practicing for the 2023 season whenever the Steelers want him to.

Holcomb was injured in the Washington Commanders’ Oct. 23 game against the Green Bay Packers, was placed on injured reserve on Nov. 17 and underwent surgery early in December.

The nature of the end of Holcomb’s 2022 season made it so that his contract with the Steelers was dependent on him coming to Pittsburgh and passing his physical, which he did.

In speaking with the Pittsburgh media for the first time since his signing on Thursday, Holcomb said that he will be ready at the start of OTAs next month if the Steelers want him to be, but that he will leave the exact time frame of his return to action in the team’s hands.

“I feel like I’m progressing very well in my rehab. I feel like I’ll be ready to go,” Holcomb said. “Whatever the coaches decide to do, I’m behind those guys a hundred percent and however they decide to attack it, that’s, that’s how we’re gonna go.”

The Steelers are likely to slot Holcomb directly into one starting spot at inside linebacker, with Elandon Roberts manning the other. Starting strong safety Terrell Edmunds and slot cornerback Cam Sutton are also gone, so the entirety of the middle of the Pittsburgh defense will be new in 2023.

That means it will be important for Holcomb to be able to participate in this offseason as the Steelers put together their new-look defense.