PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said they played the free agency market and determined the best deal for them was sending outside linebacker Melvin Ingram to a potential playoff foe.
Tomlin it’s just part of standard business to make move possible, which was getting a sixth-round pick in exchange for a player who could impact the Chiefs defense.
What was clear is the situation with 32-year-old Ingram (6 games, one start, one pass defended, 10 tackles, two TFL, sack, six QB hits) was unworkable with the Steelers.
“What the team needs is first and foremost,” Tomlin said of weighing the desire for a trade against the needs of the team. “That’s just how it goes. That’s the competent of team sport and football in particular. From a team aspect also, it’s better to have volunteers as opposed to hostages.”
Tomlin signed in July when seemingly no one else wanted him. He got $4 million for this year coming off a season with injuries and zero sacks with the Chargers.
“I enjoyed working with Melvin,” Tomlin said. “It just didn’t work out the way we envisioned. The way he envisioned.”
“That’s really culturally why we build our team primarily through the draft. When you do business with guys from the time they are 20 and 21. You get an opportunity to be a part of their growth and development. They get an opportunity to buy in to your system of ball and their roles in it at a very young age. It makes the division of labor a very fluid thing.”
“Free agency it makes it more cumbersome at times to get to know (players), on a lot of levels as you are preparing to play games.”
“It’s good for him. We wish him the best moving forward.”
Tomlin put an optimistic spin on it saying former first-round pick Taco Charlton does many things Ingram does.
“It’s good for us,” Tomlin said. “We are excited about the growth and development of Taco (Charlton). Taco has been on our practice squad for over a month now.”
“We had an opportunity to elevate him in the game vs. Cleveland (10 snaps). He gave us more than adequate work there. We are going to continue to give him opportunities along with Derrek (Tuszka) to fortify depth at the outside linebacker position.”
“Obviously, we are extremely comfortable with the growth and development of Alex Highsmith.”