Well, that was fast. Soon after meeting with the Steelers, defensive end Melvin Ingram inked a one-year deal to play in Pittsburgh (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
Ingram has had an unexpectedly long stay in free agency, likely due to health concerns. Last year, a knee issue held him to just seven games for the Chargers. But, before that, he notched 49 career sacks en route to three straight Pro Bowls from 2017-19. He had exactly zero sacks in 2020, but Pro Football Focus gave him a solid 76.3 pass-rushing score, good for top-20 among all OLBs/DEs.
Ingram, 32, met with the Dolphins and Chiefs earlier this year, but left both visits without deals. Fortunately for them and other teams in need of edge help, Justin Houston, Everson Griffen, Olivier Vernon, and Bruce Irvin are still on the board.
Now, instead of Joey Bosa, he’ll have two-time All-Pro T.J. Watt as his opposite end counterpart. Beyond those two, the Steelers also have rookie Quincy Roche, youngster Alex Highsmith, and veteran Cassius Marsh in the mix.
Lots of crying in KC today.
Well maybe we will get Justin Houston. Just something to replace Clark’s production.
Houston isn’t coming back to KC.
nor going to Houston most likely
He’s gonna play OLB with that knee? I’m guessing 3rd down specialist. Glad to see PIT now has some more veteran leadership on defense.
Doesn’t need to start.
Highsmith looked good last year when Bud went down. Plan is for him to take another step forward. he was drafted in the 3rd round last year to replace Dupree.
Ingram will provide depth, veteran experience at a young position, and insurance against an injury or sophomore slump.
I know Pit is always good for being above 500, but this year feels different. Bad OL, & Ben was done after Thanksgiving last year. I read somewhere that Ben is busting his butt this offseason to get in much better shape. Really it only took him until being 39 to figure that out?
His strategy was always be that fat guy that’s too hard to push over
As a fat guy, I’ve gotta say that’s a terrible strategy. We are the perfect shape to be pushed over.
I’m fat and sometimes fall down walking down the hallway. Terrible strategy indeed.
He’s been showing up to camp trim for the last 4-5 years. Some years he just doesn’t seem to maintain it. Last year the bigger issue was his knees.
Once those were banged up (DAL game) all he could do was pop painkillers.
People kept talking about the elbow but it was hurting both knees in the Dallas game that sunk Ben. What little mobility he did have was gone at that point, leading to having to throw within 2.5 seconds. Defenders just sat back and waited
Good scouting. He couldn’t plant on his knee and that took all of the zip off of his ball and that’s why everyone thinks his arm is shot.
I love how just because they have a different o-line people think it will be bad.
Last year’s o-line was washed up. Guys like Villanueva and Decastro were worthless.
This year’s o-line could be the best run blocking line in the NFL.
Zach Banner is a monster and Harris should be able to find the edge with ease.
Dotson was a good rookie and could prove to be something special.
Turner should be an improvement over decayed Decastro.
With o-line coach Matt Canada promoted to OC look for the steelers to have one of the most high powered run offenses in the league.
Jump on Harris in fantasy leagues gents, dudes going to be a huge steal
All the haters will be proven wrong shortly enough.
As usual, the steelers secondary is a huge issue. Aside from Minka its a wash.
…the o-line… will be great
It’s too bad he wasted his prime years with the irrelevant and incompetent Spanos Traveling Clown Show
Good signing. Signing a productive player who can work as a quality starter this late in the year is difficult. This was the biggest area individually that Pittsburgh needed to address to maintain the success they had last year (the defense was very good, despite the offense’s total reliance on Big Ben due to the one dimensional short pass attack).we’ll see how his knee holds up, but Ingram is a good plug-and-play signing at the edge rushing spot.
Lol. So he left battling for third place in the AFC West to battling for third place in the AFC North?
baker Mayfield is a bust
Agreed, but the shell of a QB that you are trotting out there is not better. Outside of Burrow, the AFC N doesn’t have a decent starter at QB. So we agree on that. I’m also just saying that the Steelers Oline is terrible, it’s WR’s are vastly over rated and they are depending hard core on an overrated rookie running back. Outside of the dline and Watt, there is not a ton to see here…
Steelers going to have top notch defence and a below average offence
Sounds like the Bears with a slightly better defence
probably the opposite. Ingram doesn’t move the needle much and you underrate what should be a pretty insane offense
Claypool, dionte, juju, Harris, HOF QB , rebuilt o-line, new OC
how do they have the money to do this?
They cut a guy making $9M in salary…
…and Ingram is likely getting < $3M.
Wow leaving a team like the Chargers and LA for Pittsburgh ( and no chance of winning). Well he can learn how to harass women with Pig Ben still on the team
Thats Hall of fame & 2 time SB winning QB pig ben to you sir
The division is the Steelers to lose. Jackson had his one good year and is on track for RG3 regression. Mayfield is a total joke with fanboy support.
Big Ben tossed over 50 passes in the playoff game! Harris and JuJu gonna run RAMPANT over the better teams!
Big Ben tossed over 50 passes in the playoff game! Harris and JuJu gonna run RAMPANT over the better teams!