It’s not every day a player goes from being overlooked to indispensable with nary a snap taken. Welcome to Cole Holcomb’s offseason.

Washington’s underwhelming 7-9 campaign was only briefly in the rearview when Ron Rivera emphasized the need for quarterback upgrades on both sides of the ball. That meant seeking a new linebacker with signal-calling prowess and every-play expectations for the defense.

That search came to a surprising conclusion. The 2022 signal caller would come from inside Washington’s house.

“We feel like Cole Holcomb has a chance to go in there and play Mike for us,” general manager Martin Mayhew said at the owners’ meetings in March.

That is the plan as the Commanders begin their on-field workout Tuesday in the first of three multi-day OTA sessions in Ashburn. Others on the roster will garner more attention when Washington reconvenes. They include the actual quarterback, Carson Wentz, and Holcomb’s fellow linebacker Jamin Davis.

Still, “Don’t sleep on Cole Holcomb,” defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said earlier this month on the team’s website. “He’s a pretty good football player.”

Indeed — but note that the coaches and other decision-makers hit the snooze button when considering the rising fourth-year player’s future role. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this player recognized the changing world and immediately turned part of his home into a gym and recovery center.

Holcomb sought out a gym equipment representative within hours of when the “friggin’ whole country shut down” in March 2020. “I called and (introduced myself) and said, ‘I need you to make me a list of everything you could send me within like three days,'” he recalled. Those details arrived promptly. Holcomb’s online shopping bill included $30,000-$35,000 worth of equipment.

“That’s what I spend I spend my money on, recovery shit,” the 2019 fifth-round selection and three-year starter told The Athletic on New Year’s Eve.

Even with linebacker being the team’s overt defensive weakness, the Commanders chose to spend money elsewhere this offseason, returning to the known commodity for that coveted man-in-the-middle job.

Rivera, in mid-January, candidly acknowledged the coaches planned to use Davis, Washington’s 2021 first-round pick, on the outside.

“I think that is where he belongs right now,” Rivera said.

The man in charge simultaneously commented about Holcomb, who took on more responsibilities after Jon Bostic’s Week 4 season-ending pectoral injury. Then the team’s late-season COVID-19 outbreak sidelined Holcomb for one game and thrust reserve David Mayo into the Mike role.

The change provided Rivera with data on how the defense looked “with a true Mike in there. … but you saw Cole play even better. That, to me, is exciting. We learned something.”

Over the next several weeks, as the coaches and front-office executives pondered, they reconsidered Holcomb.

“There’s not a tremendous urgency to go and do something right there,” Mayhew said in March after the initial rush of free agency. “(Cole) did a good job when he was in there. … (He) grew in that position last year when he got an opportunity to play some Mike.”

Washington made eight selections in the NFL Draft but bypassed selecting a linebacker for a defense that plummeted in Football Outsiders DVOA metric from third in 2021 to 27th last season.

Washington remains in touch with various free agents but has yet to add a veteran linebacker. Under Del Rio, the Commanders primarily deploy sub packages with at least five defensive backs, but there’s a need for a potential 4-3 base starter, injury replacement or mere depth.

“We’d like to get a few more guys to be a bit deeper there,” Rivera said at this month’s rookie minicamp. The Commanders have yet to add more experience to the position as of Monday morning.

Mayo, a 2019 starter with the Giants, was rarely involved last season before the COVID-19 outbreak. Khaleke Hudson, a 2020 fifth-round pick, received only 23 defensive snaps in 12 games last season. Undrafted free agents dot the offseason depth chart from there.

One change from the decision makers: They’ve gone from looking past Holcomb to praising him.

“Last year, (Holcomb) took a huge step forward,” Del Rio said. “He really played very well. … (A) lot of the guys that are getting the pub around the league, he played as well or better than.”

Back-to-back #WashingtonFootball TDs makes it a 7-point game.

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Pro Football Focus graded Holcomb, who had 142 tackles last season, 28th among 58 linebackers to play at least 600 snaps last season. He often played on the outside, even with the green dot on his helmet, which signifies which defender is tasked with communicating play calls from Del Rio.

Holcomb sees the shift inside making such duties easier, especially in loud environments or when personnel changes occur on the fly. Then there’s the benefit for Davis, an athletic force who labored with the college-to-pro game adjustment during his rookie season.

“I think it helped Jamin in terms of (taking) a little bit off his plate, so he can just play fast,” Holcomb said of the play-calling role. “And then it helped me. … Now, I can really take control of the defense … get everything communicated.”

There’s joy in a crunching hit or returning an interception for a touchdown, as Holcomb did in the Week 14 home loss to the Cowboys, but “I love just running the show,” the linebacker said. “It’s always been what I’ve loved doing, and I enjoy the chess match. Me making checks, the quarterbacks making checks, trying to get the guys lined up.”

Holcomb headed into the offseason uncertain of his future role, yet confident he would be ready for any task.

“I would love to play Mike, but … I’m good with (any role),” Holcomb said. “Rivera talks about position flex, and I feel like my abilities are good enough to play any of the three positions.”

There’s a saying that the best ability for any player is availability. Last season, Holcomb’s only missed game came during the team’s December COVID-19 outbreak. His 2020 vision helped.

Holcomb shares his Northern Virginia home with his girlfriend, Casey, a fitness trainer. They installed rubber flooring in the garage, where they parked stacks of weights. Holcomb’s spending spree included a two-person infrared sauna, a cold tub and a Normatec air compression system for his legs.

Some of the equipment remains in his parents’ home in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where young Cole went from having “clown feet and giant head” to becoming an established NFL player. Washington’s 2021 tackles leader owns a parcel of land in the coastal suburb outside Daytona Beach, where he plans to build his offseason residence. The focus is on establishing roots in the middle of Washington’s defense.

“I feel like I’m going to take control of this defense and take charge of the Mike spot,” Holcomb said in an interview for the team website. “I’ve (wanted) it for a while, and I like that responsibility to take control and get everybody lined up, make the adjustments we need to make.”

Among those adjustments? Landing on a now indispensable player the team’s thinkers previously overlooked.

(Photo: Geoff Burke / USA Today)