{"id":118137,"date":"2021-07-19T15:20:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=118137"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:20:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:20:55","slug":"melvin-ingram-to-the-pittsburgh-steelers-would-be-a-perfect-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/07\/19\/melvin-ingram-to-the-pittsburgh-steelers-would-be-a-perfect-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Melvin Ingram to the Pittsburgh Steelers Would be a Perfect Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Steelers are one step closer to finding some much-needed help at the outside linebacker position. According to Ian Rapoport, the team is hosting Melvin Ingram today for a visit prior to the start of training camp later this week. This move would make a lot of sense for the Steelers, and they should look to get Melvin Ingram signed by any means necessary.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Steelers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Steelers<\/a> are hosting veteran FA pass-rusher Melvin Ingram today, source said, as they look to fill a need before camp. Ingram also has had interest from the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Chiefs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Dolphins?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RapSheet\/status\/1417128603775606786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 19, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Pittsburgh Steelers Should Aggressively Pursue Melvin Ingram<\/h2>\n<h3>Lacking Depth at the Position<\/h3>\n<p>Melvin Ingram to the Steelers makes a lot of sense because the Steelers have no depth at the outside linebacker position. This off-season, they lost standout pass rusher Bud Dupree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/titans\/\" target=\"_self\">Tennessee Titans<\/a>. His replacement will be Alex Highsmith, a second year player who showed signs of excellence in his rookie season. Highsmith was a great depth piece at outside linebacker last year, but there wasn&#8217;t much behind him. Now, Highsmith leaves behind a huge void at the number three outside linebacker position.<\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;5166&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t long ago that Ingram was a premier pass rusher in the league. His age is catching up to him, though, along with a knee injury that caused him to miss nine games in 2021. While this is a concern for any potential suitors, the injury and age also drive Ingram&#8217;s price down from what would have otherwise been a nice chunk of change. Because he is getting older and hasn&#8217;t been healthy, he won&#8217;t be asked to be a full-time starter, at least not in Pittsburgh. He can be a phenomenal depth piece who&#8217;s asked to play roughly 40% of defensive snaps and get after opposing quarterbacks in passing situations.<\/p>\n<h3>Bucking the Trend<\/h3>\n<p>One thing working against the Melvin Ingram to the Steelers hopes is the team&#8217;s history under Kevin Colbert. They have not typically been a team who&#8217;s happy to sign an outside free agent in their 30s, at least not on the defensive side of the ball. However, the Steelers have had a very good or elite defense for much of Kevin Colbert&#8217;s tenure. They haven&#8217;t needed to sign older free agents with injury concerns.<\/p>\n<p>This year is different though, or at least it should be. Colbert should recognize that the team&#8217;s Super Bowl window is closing fast (if it hasn&#8217;t already). All signs point to 2021 being Ben Roethlisberger&#8217;s last season in Pittsburgh. With their offensive line question marks, the Steelers won&#8217;t have a prolific offense this year. If they want to have postseason success, it will need to come on the back of their defense. And in today&#8217;s NFL, that starts with being able to pressure quarterbacks. Melvin Ingram has made a career out of doing just that.<\/p>\n<h3>The Cap Space is There<\/h3>\n<p>Coming into the off-season, the Steelers were loaded with salary cap concerns. Retirements, key departures, and surprise releases have carved out much more cap space than could have been anticipated. The recent <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/06\/26\/david-decastro-leaves-a-legacy-behind-in-pittsburgh\/\" target=\"_self\">release<\/a> of David DeCastro (and subsequent signing of Trei Turner to replace him) provided the Steelers a similar-caliber guard and an extra $5 million in cap space. They currently have about $13 million in cap space, more than enough to sign Ingram and even another depth piece or two. Especially with Ingram&#8217;s aforementioned injury concerns and age, his asking price should be lower than one would expect for a player of his caliber. If they want him, the Steelers should do whatever they can to sign Melvin Ingram. And based on the current makeup of their roster, there&#8217;s no reason they shouldn&#8217;t want him.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"7ISdoDgJRHlG5h6ZurPNGQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1191406918\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'7ISdoDgJRHlG5h6ZurPNGQ',sig:'wmyxVRwV2cR1kRm9VitLe8z1UNA3K7JXOe8Vdc0J-ns=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1191406918',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melvin Ingram is reportedly meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who could use the services of the talented pass rusher. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2781,"featured_media":118140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,9],"tags":[1675,7366,7294,7635],"class_list":["post-118137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-steelers","tag-melvin-ingram","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-rumors","tag-steelers-featured"],"modified_by":"Connor Deitrich","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2781"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}