Five things to know about the newest Dolphin, edge defender Melvin Ingram

A Dolphins pass rush featuring Emmanuel Ogbah, Jaelan Phillips and Jerome Baker just added a three-time Pro Bowl edge defender with more sacks than any of them.

Melvin Ingram, who has 51 career sacks, is now a Dolphin. He’ll add another rusher for offenses to worry about in addition to Ogbah (37 career sacks), Baker (17) and second-year man Phillips (8.5), who combined have 62.5 sacks.

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Ingram, who just turned 33, was the Chargers’ first-round pick in 2012 and went on to make the Pro Bowl three consecutive seasons starting in 2017.

Five things about Melvin Ingram to help get to know him:

Thanks again, Chiefs

The Dolphins don’t really have it in for the Chiefs. It just seems that way.

When Ingram signed with the Dolphins, it meant he wasn’t sticking with the Chiefs, who wanted him back.

In fact, the Chiefs applied an unrestricted free-agent tender on Ingram a couple of weeks ago. At the very least, GM Brett Veach said he hoped it kept the lines of communication open. It also meant the Chiefs would receive a compensatory pick if another team signed him and that Kansas City was locked into paying him $4.4 million if he stuck around.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory the Dolphins have plucked a player out of Kansas City, of course. It’s not even the first time they’ve grabbed a Chiefs pass rusher. We’re talking about Ogbah and Tyreek Hill, of course.

‘The Kobe mentality’

Ingram appeared in six games for the Steelers last season and nine games with the Chiefs.

In Pittsburgh, he wore No. 8.

In K.C., he wore No. 24.

Yes, he wanted to honor Kobe Bryant.

"I started off with the Kobe mentality from the beginning of this year," Ingram said, according to WDAF-Channel 4 in Kansas City. "It's just a never-stop, never-give-up, keep-grinding type mentality and put the work In. Coming here, I wanted to keep that same mentality."

A ‘hostage’ in Pittsburgh?

When Ingram joined the Chiefs last November, he didn’t want to get into what happened in Pittsburgh.

But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin offered a pretty good hint.

"I enjoy working with Melvin,” Tomlin told reporters after trading Ingram for a 2022 sixth-round pick. “It just didn’t work out the way we envisioned, the way he envisioned. And sometimes it happens in free agency.”

Why didn’t it work out?

“It’s better to have volunteers as opposed to hostages,” Tomlin said.

From his side, Ingram said the situation in Pittsburgh was “just different.”

"It wasn't what I thought it was going to be,” he said, according to The Kansas City Star. “But it's good. It was a dope situation. I respect all those guys. I respect Coach Tomlin, all the coaches, all the players. It was definitely a blessing to be with those guys."

Ingram paid dividends in the regular-season finale vs. Denver, forcing a fumble by ex-Charges teammate Melvin Gordon that Nick Bolton returned 86 yards for a touchdown in a 28-24 victory.

"That's why we brought Melvin over here — to make plays like that," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said.

Violence is legal here

The Dolphins hope Ingram brings a trait with him that his former defensive coordinator admired.

“He’s playing angry,” Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs’ veteran coordinator, told The Star last season. “I say that to him all the time — you play angry. I love it. You’ve got everybody else getting angry, too.”

A brave reporter asked Ingram his side of the “angry” thing.

“It’s an angry game,” Ingram said. “It’s a physical game. It’s a legal way to be violent.”

Sizing up Ingram’s 2021 season

Ingram had 10.5 sacks in 2015 and 2017, but his last season with a significant number of sacks was seven in 2019. Since then, he had zero in an injury-marred 2020, when he appeared in just seven games for the Chargers, and a total of two while splitting time between Pittsburgh and Kansas City last year.

But Pro Football Focus rated him as the league’s 13th-best edge defender out of 108 last season, ranking him just behind the Joey Bosas and Cameron Jordans of the world.

PFF rated him as the No. 8 edge defender against the run and No. 22 as a pass rusher. His overall defensive grade, 80.9, was his best since 2017.

PFF credited Ingram with 42 quarterback pressures in 2021. Pro Football Reference lists him as having 11 QB hits.

Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Five things to know about the newest Dolphin, Melvin Ingram