Steelers news: Pittsburgh trades Melvin Ingram to the Chiefs for draft capital
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers recently traded Melvin Ingram to the Kansas City Chiefs. Here’s why it’s a deal that should work out for both teams.
Well, the rumors and speculation turned out to be much more than that. On Tuesday morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirmed that Steelers edge defender Melvin Ingram has officially been traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 6th-round draft choice.
Ingram made it public knowledge that he was unhappy with the playing time he was receiving in Pittsburg. As T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith fully recovered from lingering groin injuries earlier in the season, their playing time went up and Ingram’s went down.
Ingram popped up on the Steelers injury report on Friday — a move I thought was rather interesting at the time. I speculated that Pittsburgh could be holding him out of the game as to not hurt his trade value.
I'm not speculating anything, but it seems odd that the two players who are rumored to be unhappy in their diminishing roles in Pittsburgh (Melvin Ingram and Eric Ebron) both went from participants in practice this week to doubtful and out, respectively. #Steelers
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) October 30, 2021
It turns out, that’s exactly what Pittsburgh was doing. Though they won’t come out and say it, the Steelers didn’t want Ingram to get injured just before he was traded.
Trade should work for both Steelers and Chiefs
This is a trade that should be good for both sides involved. The Steelers were able to have a quality backup for 6 games and pennies on the dollar and earn back some of the draft capital they recently traded over the offseason.
For Kansas City, they will be getting a quality edge defender for what is essentially an 11-game rental at the cost of a 6th-round pick.
Pittsburgh clearly didn’t have much of a plan to use Ingram in any major capacity moving forward — barring injury — and Highsmith continues to show improvement. In addition, the team recently signed Taco Charlton who looks to take Ingram’s part-time role with the team.
With this move, fans will be wondering if tight end Eric Ebron is the next to get shipped before the NFL trade deadline, as he is also unhappy in his diminished role with the emergence of Pat Freirmuth and Zach Gentry.
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Chances are, the Steelers aren’t going to get a player as good as Melvin Ingram with the 6th-round pick they acquired, but Ingram wasn’t going to re-sign with the team anyway. This is a deal that has the potential to work out for both sides involved.