2. Joey Bosa needs help on the defensive line
Joey Bosa is having arguably the quietest season of his entire career and it is not really his fault. Bosa has been unable to generate pressure on the quarterback as teams have been double and sometimes even triple-teaming him on the line of scrimmage and the Chargers have not been able to make them pay.
The Bolts simply cannot get pressure on the quarterback in a consistent manner. Uchenna Nwosu has been really bad this season and Kyler Fackrell has been mediocre. The interior defensive line cannot stop the run and is not generating much pressure on the passer, either.
This has allowed teams to essentially take Bosa out of the game. Remember before the year when Brandon Staley was talking about getting premier players in great matchups? That has not been the case thus far for Joey Bosa.
Would Melvin Ingram have fixed everything? No. He is not the same player that he was even two years ago but he is still an above-average pass rusher that teams have to respect. If teams double-team Joey Bosa with Melvin Ingram on the defensive line he is going to make them pay more than the Chargers have this season.
Per Pro Football Focus, Ingram has generated 18 quarterback pressures in 140 pass-rushing snaps this season. That gives him a pressure rate of 12.9%. For comparison's sake, Nwosu has generated 14 pressures in 145 pass-rushing snaps (9.7%) while being horrible against the run. Kyler Fackrell has generated five pressures in 95 pass-rushing snaps (5.3%).
Let's jump into the third reason why the LA Chargers should have traded for Melvin Ingram.