‘All of us think we’re better than we are’ – Steelers wish Melvin Ingram well

On the day of the first Pittsburgh Steelers practice since the trade of disgruntled outside linebacker Melvin Ingram III, a prominent coach and teammate wished the veteran well. But defensive coordinator Keith Butler made clear that Ingram was never going to get his wish to surpass Alex Highsmith on the depth chart.

“I think all of us think we are better than we are,” Butler said Thursday from UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “But we’ve got to suffer reality sometimes.”

Ingram was dealt to the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday for a sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft after missing this past week’s game in Cleveland amid reports he was unhappy with his role and desired a trade.

Ingram, who was listed on the Steelers’ official injury report last week as having a groin injury, was a full participant in Chiefs practice Wednesday.

“I wish he was here,” Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Thursday. “I thought we had the making of a good defense with him included into it. But it doesn’t always work out that way.”

After being released by the Los Angeles Chargers this past spring following his ninth season with that organization, Ingram signed with the Steelers days before training camp began. He was added to an OLB corps that lacked depth after the offseason departures of Bud Dupree and Ola Adeniyi. T.J. Watt is one of the NFL’s best defensive players, but Highsmith had five career starts heading into this season.

Though Watt and Highsmith each missed a game over this season’s first month, Ingram clearly was the No. 3 at outside linebacker when the other two have been healthy.

“We wish him the best,” Butler said of Ingram. “But he wanted to play (ahead of) some other people. We feel like we’ve got the best two guys starting for us right now in T.J. and Alex and felt it then, too. We felt like he could come in and be a third guy for us, but I don’t know if we would sit there and say he’s the second guy behind T.J. I wouldn’t say that.

“I wouldn’t say that at all.”

Highsmith has 1½ sacks, four tackles for loss, four QB hits in 289 defensive snaps this season. Ingram had one sack, two TFL and six QB hits in 246 snaps. According to Pro Football Focus, Ingram had 18 pressures and a 73.6 overall grade and Highsmith 10 pressures and a 60.4 grade.

The 32-year-old Ingram has been named to the Pro Bowl twice before.

“You know, (a trade) is something he wanted,” Butler said, “and that’s fine. We liked having him here. He was a good player for us and stuff like that.”

The Steelers’ backups for Watt and Highsmith now are Derrek Tuszka and Taco Charlton, two players who were cut by other teams in recent months and spent time earlier this season on the Steelers practice squad.

The Steelers are very open about wanting to limit the snaps of Watt and Highsmith, so Charlton and Tuszka are expected to play significantly in Ingram’s stead.

“Melvin is in a stage of his career where he wants to see some more time,” Heyward said, “and you can’t stop a man from that.”

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