Beasley: Miami Dolphins host veteran edge rusher Melvin Ingram for a visit

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is never done turning over the roster. This is a well-known tenant of his roster-building philosophy. Even as we approach the humid mid-summer months in South Florida, Miami’s top brass is still excavating for talent. Case in point: per Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins are hosting veteran edge rusher Melvin Ingram for a visit.

Ingram, 32, spent his entire career with the Chargers, both in San Diego and Los Angeles, before hitting free agency this past March. He had one visit with the Chiefs over the past few months, but has otherwise been out of the headlines as he recovers from a series of injuries that limited him to just seven games in 2020. Before this past season, Ingram had been selected to three straight Pro Bowls (2017 - 2019) and accumulated 24.5 sacks in that span. In his injury-marred 2020 campaign, his pass rush prowess was diminished, but Ingram’s presence on the field was still felt. He recorded a PFF grade of 72.3 over those seven games and hasn’t dipped below the 70.0 mark since 2014.

The Dolphins had one of the top scoring defenses in the NFL last year (top-five, in fact). One of the only glaring weaknesses is head coach Brian Flores’ defensive unit was the group’s lack of a ferocious pass rush. Flores used a combination of well-schemed blitzes and a pass-rush-by-committee approach to keep pressure on opposing quarterbacks, but entering this offseason, it was clear the unit needed an upgrade. The team added rookie Jaelan Phillips with the 18th-overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft and currently has Emmanuel Ogbah and Andrew Van Ginkel filling the top of the depth chart, but adding a reliable veteran presence in Ingram could go a long way towards completing a well-rounded unit.