Kevin Colbert signing Melvin Ingram was the big move the Steelers needed to solidify their depth chart at edge rusher, one of their most important positions on the team.
Even with T.J. Watt as arguably the best edge rusher in the NFL and Alex Highsmith as a promising young replacement for Bud Dupree, the position needed another experienced addition as I'd written time after time here on DK Pittsburgh Sports.
Ingram is that addition, bringing nine years of NFL experience that's earned him three Pro Bowl appearances and respect across the NFL as one of the league's better edge rushers.
Melvin Ingram's 1 year deal with Steelers is worth $4M
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) July 20, 2021
Signing Ingram to a deal only worth $4M still leaves Colbert with plenty of space to address other weaknesses on the roster. But finding a third quality edge rusher was right at the top of the team's needs.
Ingram didn't have any sacks in 2020 when he missed nine games with a nagging knee injury. But he was averaging eight sacks a season before last year, and still showed he was able to bring pressure even without getting home on the quarterback in 2020.
Pro Football Focus graded Ingram with a 17.8 percent pass rush win rate, meaning that's how often he applied pressure on downs where he rushed the quarterback. That was the eleventh best in the NFL even without him getting a single sack.
As he gets ready for his tenth NFL season at 32-years old, Ingram brings plenty of experience and a strong understanding of pass rush techniques to beat offensive tackles off the snap. When you watch his tape, he consistently protects his chest from being locked onto by offensive tackles in his pass rush. Then as he approaches his man, he often has the right timing combined with the right pass rush move to counter where the offensive tackle is in their pass protection footwork.
Watch this sack on Derek Carr from 2019 when Ingram twitches just enough to get the angle he wanted to execute this rip move and get into the backfield:
That's the basic part of his game.
Where Ingram becomes very useful for the defense is when his experience kicks in during plays and he works to get in position to blow up a concept he recognized.
Watch how he started this play rushing Joe Burrow, but spun around quickly enough to recognize the screen to Giovani Bernard. Once he understood the play, he worked to run with Bernard and capitalized on a hurried rookie quarterback by intercepting the pass:
Ingram has three consecutive seasons with an interception, and two of those three interceptions came on screen passes he sniffed out.
But making plays like that isn't something that should be taken for granted. Plenty of pass rushers get caught up in their duties to get after the quarterback that they'll overlook their other duties and expose the defense when they're fooled.
When that happens, often it leads to a player being wide open or a pass rush lane being unaccounted for and the offense capitalizing on the opportunity. Watch how the Chiefs tried to roll out Patrick Mahomes with Darrell Williams as an uncommitted lead blocker to Ingram's side. Instead of trying to rush inside of Williams, Ingram engaged him and drove him into Mahomes:
Had Ingram left Williams alone, he would've quickly became Mahomes' safety option for a quick pass. But his approach to the play bottled up the NFL's best quarterback for a sack.
That's the other element to why Ingram works for the Steelers' needs in their defensive front; he's a versatile playmaker. Over his nine years of NFL experience he's learned how to make plays from various points in a defense's alignment.
Here he was lined up over B-gap against the Raiders in 2019 from a two-point stance as the defense's left interior pass rusher. He set up his rush with a simple step to the outside to draw the guard just far enough away from A-gap so he could shoot the gap so quickly the center couldn't even help to stop him from sacking Carr:
These aren't fluke plays either. Ingram built those Pro Bowl appearances by being a versatile defender up front and causing offensive linemen headaches.
It's his experience that can replace Dupree with another player who's already grown through his mistakes as a young edge defender in the NFL. Ingram also does a solid job staying aware of crack back blocks and attempted seals by receivers and tight ends to open up the defense's edge.
Highsmith should still be the starter for this defense after the steps he took in 2020. But even if Ingram is given the official title of a starter by coming out with the defense to start games, there's no doubt Highsmith will still be mixed in to play plenty of snaps mixed in with Ingram and Watt.
How much the Steelers use Ingram will be a big question after his missing nine games last season. But when he did play, he still accounted for an average of over 81 percent of defensive snaps the six games he played last season. Highsmith only started the final five games of his rookie season, but he accounted for an average of 90 percent of the defensive snaps during those games.
But Highsmith's snap count boost was because the Steelers was so thin at edge rusher after Dupree's injury. Watt also saw a jump from averaging 87.1 percent of defensive snaps through eleven games and that increasing to 91.5 percent once Dupree went down.
The other factor to consider how often these players will be on the field will be their versatility. Highsmith made a highlight early in his rookie season with a big interception of Lamar Jackson when he dropped into the flat and made a good play on the ball. He has the range to move about the front of the defense and make plays.
But so does Ingram.
He won't be as young and might not be as fast in space anymore, but he's shown he can be comfortable even working from a stance off the ball. Watch how smooth he looked playing Mike linebacker in a goal line situation. As the ball was snapped he approached his gap to defend the run, but when he recognized the play action he got back into his assigned zone, read the quarterback's eyes and intercepted the pass:
Not that you would want him doing that all the time, but the fact he can do that will be noted by Keith Butler.
Watt, Dupree and Highsmith each took turns lining up off the ball in 2020 and it wouldn't be a surprise for Ingram to be in that mix in 2021. The versatility of moving those pass rushers around could keep offenses on their toes and make life hard for offensive linemen to identify their assignments as they wouldn't know which defenders were lining up in a given position.
Depth is still the top concern here, as now the Steelers have a third edge rusher they will feel comfortable using regularly next year. But the addition of Ingram could also offer an additional exotic look on third downs, where Watt, Highsmith and Ingram all come out as edge rusher, Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt as interior linemen and Devin Bush as a lone off-ball linebacker while the secondary boasts five defensive backs.
The look would put five confident pass rushers in the group of six defenders up front, with Bush free to roam behind them. That would allow for the defensive backs the play to their assignments and Butler more opportunities to disguise what's going on during third downs.
However you slice it, a healthy Ingram on the roster for just $4 million is a win for the Steelers. That win could lead to more wins this fall if the team gets into crunch time for fourth quarter defensive stands and because they have Ingram, their edge rushers are lining up with fresh legs ready to make plays instead of searching for the last bit of gas in the tank.