LA Chargers: Potential trade destinations for Melvin Ingram
By Steven Haglund
If the LA Chargers do the unlikely and trade Melvin Ingram then where may he go?
With the news of LA Chargers defensive end “holding in”, a lot of fans have gone to Twitter to suggest the team should instead trade the apparently disgruntled Pro Bowl player. I think any suggestion of trading Ingram at this point is unwise.
If they had looked to trade him before the draft in favor of drafting a long-term replacement that would have been one thing but it’s too late now. At this point, you would be taking a massive hit in star power, leadership, and most importantly depth by trading him.
In terms of cap outlook and planning for the future, sure, trading Ingram makes sense. The Chargers are paying him a lot of money right now, and I do believe an extension makes sense but they absolutely cannot afford to give him a raise in salary.
Daniel Popper of The Athletic reported that Ingram does not have any guaranteed money this year, so maybe a shorter/more team-friendly contract that is fully guaranteed would be something Ingram would agree to.
It’s been written about plenty that the LA Chargers have lots of key players up for new contracts in 2021, including Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry, Desmond King, Mike Pouncey, Rayshawn Jenkins, Dan Feeney and Ingram.
All of those other guys have something to prove before truly understanding their value, but Ingram’s is pretty set in stone. He’s a very good, Pro Bowl level player. He’s not a Batman, but he’s a very solid Robin next to Joey Bosa.
The market for Pro Bowl defensive ends is hot, and we’ll see how that all plays out for Ingram and the Chargers. For now, let’s address the trade talk currently going on in the twitter-sphere.
Again, as a disclaimer: I am against trading Ingram but here are some possible trades I could see as possible options for the Chargers.