3 reasons trading Melvin Ingram makes sense for Steelers
By Tommy Jaggi
Melvin Ingram will be gone soon anyway
As I mentioned, Melvin Ingram isn’t returning to this football team. The Steelers have made it very clear that they intend to move on with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith as their full-time edge defenders. Even if Pittsburgh decided to start playing him more in the second half of the season, he’s not going to come back to the Steelers in 2022 to be part of a rotation. He’s auditioning for his new contract.
The other question I’ve been asked is: what if someone gets injured? Quite frankly, if T.J. Watt goes down for the season, what little chance Pittsburgh has this season would then be completely gone. Heck, you could argue that the Steelers don’t win against the Bills or the Seahawks this year without dominant defensive performances from Pittsburgh’s best player.
If Alex Highsmith gets hurt, Ingram would be a quality option to replace him opposite of Watt. However, it’s not like the Steelers Super Bowl odds increase this way. In reality, we have to have the foresight to look ahead and know that Ingram is going to be gone in 11 games no matter what. Pittsburgh might as well get something out of him.
At the end of the day, there are going to be a lot of fans split on making a big decision like this, but I think the best move for their future involves trading a player who doesn’t want to be here anymore to a team for some much-needed draft capital next season.