The Pittsburgh Steelers shored up one of the most shallow positions on their roster, and they did it with an accomplished name.
Free-agent edge defender Melvin Ingram agreed to a one-year contract with the Steelers. Ingram adds depth to the Steelers’ outside linebackers corps that never truly was addressed after the offseason loss of Bud Dupree.
Ingram is a 10-year veteran who was named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster three times from 2017-19. Between 2015-19, he had 43 sacks and 92 quarterback hits in 77 games, all for the Chargers.
A former first-round pick, Ingram was limited to seven games last season and had two stints on the injured reserve list because of a knee injury. Although he doesn’t have a sack in any of his past eight games played dating to December 2019, he had six in a seven-game stretch immediately prior to that.
Ingram figures to slot in behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith as a rotational backup at the Steelers’ outside linebacker spots. Steelers coaches prefer to keep their edge rushers fresh.
Also, although Watt is one of the NFL’s best defenders, Highsmith is entering his second NFL season and first as the anointed starter. Highsmith had one sack, five tackles for loss and two QB hits over the final five games of last season, when as a rookie he replaced Dupree.
Dupree, who suffered a torn ACL during a Dec. 2 win, signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Tennessee Titans as a free agent.
Before the signing of Ingram, the Steelers depth at outside linebacker consisted of journeyman Cassius Marsh, rookie sixth-round pick Quincy Roche and three others who never had appeared in so much as an NFL preseason game.
Despite the injury last season at age 31, Ingram still was graded well by Pro Football Focus over 361 defensive snaps in his seven games last season. PFF rated him one of the NFL’s top 25 edge defenders, the 10th-best in coverage. Ingram consistently was graded a top-10 pass rusher among edge defenders earlier in his career.
Before the signing of Ingram, the Steelers had more than $12 million in salary-cap space headed into training camp, which is to start this week. They are expected to negotiate on a mega contract extension with Watt before the start of the regular season.
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