Are the Chiefs going to trade for Melvin Ingram after not signing him?

There’s an old statement (or monster ballad by Cinderella) that says “Don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.” Perhaps Melvin Ingram is the best way to illustrate that principle while using the Kansas City Chiefs as the subject.

As the NFL trade deadline nears, rumors regarding several players and teams are going to continue to swirl, and the Chiefs’ position of need is going to keep them in the heart of several of them. But one of them that makes sense while simultaneously driving us crazy is one that they are interested in trading for Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher Melvin Ingram.

Are the Kansas City Chiefs really going to trade for Ingram after not signing him when he was available in free agency? That’s apparently on the table, per NFL reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala.

In case you slept through the offseason, the Chiefs had Melvin Ingram in for a visit at Arrowhead Stadium back in the spring and were the only team to showcase any such interest in Ingram for quite some time. However, Ingram came and went without a contract offer, and it was never known why the two parties didn’t find some common ground.

When training camp rolled around this summer, the Chiefs were reportedly interested in still bringing in Ingram, but a few days after that report, the Steelers came calling and made a signing official. Shortly thereafter, the Chiefs moved on to bringing back Alex Okafor and that was that.

Reading between the lines on the timing of the offseason moves, it’s clear that the Chiefs wanted Ingram and settled on Okafor. It’s also possible, then, that they were low-balling Ingram. It’s a bit weird to think the Chiefs couldn’t come up with a single year for $4 million for Ingram to avoid all this hassle since that’s what he got anyway from Pittsburgh. Now they might end up paying that total anyway.

So are the Chiefs now going to pay more for less of a season from Ingram and have to pay the Steelers for the chance to do so? That honestly sounds so backwards that it’s hard for me to make anything positive from it. Then again, beggars can’t be choosers and the Chiefs are perhaps in a spot where they just have to pay the proverbial piper. That said, it seems very inefficient and circular and wholly unnecessary.

Then again, rumors are rampant this time of year and it’s hard to tell at times which ones merit being taken seriously. If this is one, then it will be interesting to hear the front office tell the story on this acquisition.