With the NFL trade deadline just a few hours away the Pittsburgh Steelers made a trade, sending outside linebacker Melvin Ingram to the Kansas City Chiefs for what the team is reporting is a sixth-round draft pick.
The first thing I thought of when this was announced was that the Steelers got fleeced. Ingram hadn’t been great this season but it’s hard to imagine a player like Ingram wasn’t worth more than a sixth. Every team wants to stockpile as many pass rushers as they can.
But before you start to over overreact to the lack of value in this trade, there’s definitely more to it. Based on reports, Ingram was very unhappy with his place on the team and felt like he was better than Alex Highsmith. Pittsburgh could have held onto Ingram and tried to make it work but it feels like this relationship was too far gone.
Keeping Ingram on the team would have meant one of two things. First, the team could have given into Ingram’s demands, played him more and hindered the development of Highsmith and disrupted the chemistry of the defense. The other option would have been to not trade Ingram and keep doing what they are doing and let him stew on the sidelines. This is no better for team chemistry and the front office decided that avoiding that level of turmoil was worth it even if it meant they didn’t get top value in the trade.
