The biggest question surrounding Steelers LB Melvin Ingram

After four straight seasons without a game missed, edge defender Melvin Ingram experienced a double whammy in 2020. First, he sprained his knee in Week 3 practice and landed on injured reserve for three games. Ingram re-injured the knee in the Chargers Week 11 win over the Jets and was, again, placed on IR. Since a player can’t be activated off IR twice, that sealed Ingram’s fate last season.

Ingram also missed three games in 2019 with a hamstring injury.

A first-round selection of the San Diego Chargers in 2012, the Steelers signed Ingram to a one-year contract last week. He was named to the Pro Bowl three consecutive seasons, from 2017 to 2019, and posted 24.5 sacks during that span.

For the first time in his career, in 2020, Ingram did not record any sacks. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t productive in the seven games played.

As Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar recently wrote:

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.

Nobody knows the answer to whether Ingram can stay healthy in 2020. But there’s no question he’s eager to prove that he’s worthy of the starting job and shake that injury stigma.