Linebacker Cole Holcomb will start the 2024 season on the physically unable to perform list, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday.
Holcomb was moved from PUP/active, to PUP/reserve, which means he will not occupy a place on the team’s 53-man active roster. Holcomb must now miss at the least the first four weeks of the 2024 season.
After the first four weeks, the Steelers will have a five-week time period where they can return Holcomb to practice. Once he returns to practice, they have three weeks to decide whether or not to elevate him to the active roster. If that deadline passes, and the Holcomb remains on PUP list, he must stay there for the remainder of the season.
That means that Holcomb could return any time between the Steelers Week 5 home game against the Dallas Cowboys and their Week 12 trip to visit the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football.
The Steelers and Holcomb reached an agreement on a restructuring of his contract earlier this month that means Holcomb will not earn his full salary while on the PUP list. If he stays on the PUP list all season, he will earn $3.1 million instead of $6 million.
Holcomb is entering the second season of a three-year contract with the Steelers, and he is set to earn $6 million again next season. The 28-year-old started eight games for the Steelers in 2023 before his injury, recording 54 tackles, four for a loss, two quarterback hits, two passes defended and two forced fumbles.
