Melvin Ingram lll is the savvy veteran the Miami Dolphins need

The Miami Dolphins made a move in the off-season that made me all types of tingly. It was the kind of move good teams make when they really think they’re a piece or two away. Then they make it and everyone is all like “damn, that’s a great move.” The Miami Dolphins signed veteran pass-rusher Melvin Ingram and it really gives me delusions of granger, which of course I’m fine with.

Let it be said, the signing of Melvin Ingram doesn’t mean you can start throwing around the phrase super bowl team. How about making the playoffs first? My point is, that players like Ingram, at the backend of their career, don’t often sign with teams that aren’t going anywhere. Sure, you can say that he chose Miami because it’s Miami and the city of Miami is awesome. Believe that if you’d like. I choose to believe that he likes what Miami has going on and he wants to be a part of it.

Anyway, I love the signing and I wanted to sign Melvin Ingram for months before they actually did. I think he fits perfectly for the style of defense the Dolphins play. We know it’s a 3-4 defense and we know Ingram is going to play that outside linebacker position. Sometimes his hand will be in the dirt but I imagine when he’s in the game he’ll be mostly playing the stand-up linebacker position where his only job is to maul quarterbacks.

We know, or at least we hope, that the style of defense the Dolphins want to play is to bring pressure from every direction early and often. That fits the type of game Melvin Ingram lll has at this point in his career.

He’s fine against the run but the now 33-year-old (man alive it amazes me that we consider this old. I’ll be 36 later this month and this guy can throw me to Mars if he wanted to) but Melvin Ingram lll makes his money by getting past tackles and bringing quarterbacks to the ground.

Last year, Melvin Ingram lll only had two sacks for both the Chiefs and the Steelers. Not a great number to look at and I understand the trepidation some may have about having him on the team.

But we know he wasn’t brought to Miami so that he can be a starter. He won’t be. Instead, he will be in the rotation and come in the game when it’s probably going to be a pass. Ingram lll will be jockeying for snaps with Emmanuel Ogbah, Jaelan Phillips, Andrew Van Ginkel, and rookie Cameron Goode.

Also, having another veteran presence to help Jaelan Phillips, the future of pass-rushing in this league, along with his development in any way is a great thing as well. Any kind of tips and tricks Phillips can learn from Ingram lll is naturally a positive thing. Ingram lll isn’t on the Tyreek Hill motivation tour but he does like what he sees already from Jaelan Phillips.

The expectation will be that it will be Ogbah and either Phillips or AVG as the starting outside linebackers. That’s perfect for Ingram lll. Give him around 15ish snaps a game where he, predominantly, has one job which is to hunt quarterbacks. That’s a role he should be primed for. That’s what his role was with the Chiefs last year and in the divisional round against the Bills, Melvin Ingram lll showed he still has game left.

Ingram lll didn’t get the sack here but he but Spencer Brown in a blender with a great move and flushed Allen out who ended up getting the first down because he’s a freak of nature.

But on this play, he punished Allen every which way.

It was a huge game, obviously, and it’s those huge game situations that make veterans who were once studs, who are on the back none of their career, get all the juices pumping and able to have moments where they’re back in their younger bodies. That’s why Melvin Ingram lll is here. To have those brief moments of dominance. It’s like in Logan when Wolverine injects that green juice and gets about two minutes of vintage Wolverine and then it wears off. We’re looking for a few minutes of vintage Melvin Ingram lll. That’ll be worth it.

AQUA TINTED GLASSES PREDICTION: 48 Tackles, 12 sacks, 10 TFLs, 4 INTs, 2 TDs

NON-AQUA TINTED GLASSES PREDICTION: 28 tackles, 5 sacks, 5 TFLs, 1 INT,

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