Last season, the Steelers started off with an 11-0 record, primarily on the shoulders of a defense that placed first overall in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics, and then fell off the back of a truck, losing five of their last six games (including an historic wild-card embarrassment to the Browns) as the team’s regressive passing game and nonexistent run game caught up to it. In the offseason, Pittsburgh lost primary slot defender Mike Hilton to the Bengals and secondary pass-rusher Bud Dupree to the Bengals in free agency; if there’s concern about regression for a defense that played as well or better than any other in the league from front to back last season, you can start right there.
Replacing Hilton will be no mean feat, but the addition of former Chargers pass-rusher Melvin Ingram, signed to a one-year deal on Monday, should go a long way to easing the sting of Dupree’s departure. There are caveats here — Ingram missed nine games last season due to a knee injury, and he’s finished each of the last two seasons on injured reserve for similar issues — but when healthy, the 32-year-old can still bring it. Ingram made the Pro Bowl in 2019 despite missing three games, and that was his third straight Pro Bowl season. In 2019, he picked up seven sacks, four quarterback hits, 35 quarterback hurries, and 32 stops.
In last year’s injury-reduced campaign, on just 236 pass-rushing snaps, Ingram recorded no sacks, but he did put up six hits and 22 hurries — based on the tape, it could be argued that Ingram was a more effective down-down edge defender in 2020 than he was in 2019. Again, we have to throw out the “when healthy” thing, and pass-rushers in their early thirties with knee issues aren’t exactly bulletproof, but this is also how you get premier talents on one-year, lowball deals.
Going back to his college days at South Carolina, Ingram has always had a rare ability for a player his size (6-foot-2, 247 pounds) to win in every gap — from nose tackle and nose shade to the nine-technique perfected by Ingram’s new edge-mate, T.J. Watt. Add in all-world tackles Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, and this could be a defensive line just as dangerous — or even more dangerous — than the one featuring Dupree in 2020.
“I just did the deal not too long ago and just got to the airport,” Ingram told ESPN’s Josina Anderson Monday after the particulars were ironed out. It’s definitely a dope organization and environment; so I definitely feel like it’s the place for me.
“I met with [head] coach [Mike] Tomlin. You can tell he’s very involved, [and] a players’ coach. That’s what stood out to me. He wants to win and that is what I am on. My role is my role. He just told me to come in and be me. Everyone knows how I play.”
Everyone does, but if you need a reminder, Ingram’s 2020 tape represents a pretty impressive showing. While Dupree was (and is) more of a bull-rusher with the athletic ability to beat blockers around the edge and make up for his relatively rudimentary technique, Ingram is a different cat — capable of doing all the base things you want from an edge-rusher, but with the elevated technique and acumen to bring things to a different level. When you add in that he’ll rarely see anything remotely approaching a double-team because of all the talent around him, this starts to look like an amazing deal for both player and team.