It's been a while since Melvin Ingram made the news for his dominant play on the field. The 33-year-old veteran is heading toward the sunset of his career, as his impact has diminished over the past couple of years.
Even so, the Kansas City Chiefs would still love to have him back on the team, but financial flexibility has been an issue throughout the NFL offseason.
The Chiefs used the not-so-common UFA Tender on Ingram, hoping to keep him for the future. Now, he'll have until July 22 to find another team or will be forced to be back in Arrowhead:
"That means the Chiefs are offering Ingram a one-year contract worth $4.4 million, which is 110 percent of his 2021 pay. Ingram can sign that contract any time he wants and remain with the Chiefs for 2022," reported Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "Ingram can also continue to shop himself to other teams in free agency, but there’s now a July 22 deadline. If he hasn’t signed with another team by July 22, he has to stay with the Chiefs."
Chiefs GM Brett Veach explained that by doing so, the team is now in the driver's seat in the negotiations. Now, Ingram can't do anything without letting them know first:
“I think what this UFA tender does is, it allows us the ability to communicate and not have either him or his agent do something without us being in the mix," Veach told the media. "And I think that’s what we want to do."
However, that move came with some risk, as any other team can still swoop in and make him a better offer:
“We don’t know where this is going to go. I can say that we would love to have him back, and it would make sense for us," Veach added. "But regardless, I think now it at least allows us a chance to have dialogue with them before they decide to do anything, if they decide to do something somewhere else.”
But with the Houston Texans signing Jerry Hughes to a $10 million deal, Ingram's defacto market value could go up, says Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict:
"Unfortunately, the Texans have decided to overpay for Hughes and in doing so, perhaps they’ve altered the market in ways that will make it more difficult (or at least more expensive) for the Chiefs to land Ingram," Conner wote.
Now, the Chiefs will have to pray that no other team is interested in joining the veterans' sweepstakes, as they desperately need help at that OLB position.
