Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb has a new reason to celebrate at home.
As the week opened, Holcomb’s wife, Casey, announced on Instagram that the couple welcomed their second child, a baby boy named Drew Jarrett, or DJ.
The timing adds another layer to a busy stretch for Holcomb, whose season has already included a notable special teams penalty and the ongoing challenge of trying to work his way into a defense still searching for steadiness. Pittsburgh is 2-2 through four games, but the unit in the middle of the defense has not settled in yet.
That group has flashed at times, with starters Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson both making impact plays. But the mistakes have been costly, and the Steelers are still chasing consistency. Holcomb could be part of the answer if the team decides it needs a veteran presence to help clean things up against the run.
He is not a three-down linebacker at this point, but he still brings what he’s known for: downhill run support and a physical edge. With missed tackles becoming a problem, that kind of profile has real value.
Holcomb’s most notable moment this season came in Week 3, when the NFL ruled that he committed a blindside block on a Bengals defender during the opening kickoff. That led to an $11,041 fine.
Under the current NFL and NFLPA agreement, two more fines for that same kind of hit - or any of the other five major penalties, including hip-drop tackles, horse-collar tackles, launching, illegal blindside blocks and hits on defenseless players - would trigger a suspension.
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