KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The chance Melvin Ingram returns to the Kansas City Chiefs improved Monday when the club placed an unrestricted free agent on the 33-year-old defensive end.
Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach made it clear Tuesday that re-signing Ingram remains an offseason focus.
“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 said. “That’s what we wanted.”
Ingram signed with a one-year, $4 million deal with Pittsburgh last July before he was traded to Kansas City in early November.
The tender offer guarantees the Chiefs draft compensation if Ingram, who visited Miami last month, signs elsewhere.
If Ingram remains unsigned on July 22, Kansas City gains exclusive negotiating rights for a contract worth 110% of last season’s deal, or roughly $4.4 million.
“We don’t know where this is going to go,” Veach added during a video conference with reporters. “I can say that we would love to have him back and it would make sense for us, but regardless, it at least allows us the chance to have dialogue with them before they decide to do anything, if they decide to do something somewhere else.”
Veach said he and his staff — including two of the Chiefs’ vice presidents of football operations, Brandt Tillis and Chris Shea — began discussing the idea in the weeks before the 2022 NFL Draft.
It’s been two years since an NFL team used an unrestricted free agent tender, an unusual tender option from the collective bargaining agreement.
Baltimore also used the rare tender Monday on former Kansas City star Justin Houston.
To be clear, the UFA tender was designed to put pressure on Ingram. He was always expected to wait until well into the offseason, perhaps even after mandatory minicamps, before choosing a destination.
“I don’t think he’s in a rush,” Veach said. “We knew that when the free agency period started that he wouldn’t be in a rush, that he would take his time. If it made sense for him, he would do something. We’ve been in contact with his agent. If there was something that made sense for us, we would definitely want him back.”
Ingram had 15 tackles, including a sack, with a forced fumble in nine games with Kansas City last season, but his presence helped solidify a struggling defensive line. He added five tackles with two sacks in the playoffs.
The Chiefs also will monitor and evaluate as players potentially get released in the coming weeks with the NFL barreling into the offseason program in earnest.
“I think we are in a position to do something small and, if it makes sense, we would do it,” Veach said.
