Chiefs reportedly make offer to Steelers for three-time Pro Bowler Melvin Ingram

Melvin Ingram visited the Chiefs this offseason, but the defending AFC champions passed. This led Ingram to Pittsburgh. Months later, the veteran edge rusher is back on Kansas City’s radar.

Mentioned as a team monitoring Ingram, the Chiefs have now made an offer for the 11th-year pass rusher, NFL.com’s Aditi Kinkhabwala reports (on Twitter). Ingram wants to be traded after seeing the Steelers reduce his playing time.

As is generally the case involving trades of notable performers, the Steelers do not want to send Ingram to a team in the conference, Kinkhabwala adds. The former Pro Bowl sack artist being on the block is certainly notable as NFC teams assess their pass-rushing stables ahead of the Nov. 2 trade deadline, but the Chiefs certainly could use whatever help they can find.

Kansas City’s defense has taken a significant step back this season. The Chiefs rank 28th in total defense and last in sacks, registering just eight. Despite Chris Jones and Frank Clark playing together for the first time since Week 2, the Chiefs could not stop the Titans in a blowout Week 7 loss. Clark, who was arrested twice on gun charges this offseason, has yet to register a sack in his third year with the Chiefs. Kansas City, which has won five straight AFC West titles, is 3-4 and looking up at the Raiders and Chargers in a suddenly competitive division.

Ingram has one sack and six quarterback hits on his 2021 resume. While the former first-round pick is a bit removed from his peak, he could conceivably help a team as a complementary rusher. The Steelers have used Alex Highsmith as T.J. Watt's primary sidekick and played Ingram on only 26% of their defensive snaps in Week 6. This was down from 60% in Week 5. Money is not a major issue here, as Ingram is attached to just a $1.075M base salary.