49ers should sign free-agent EDGE Melvin Ingram

The 49ers could still use some pass-rushing help despite boasting Nick Bosa, and free-agent EDGE Melvin Ingram could be a nice stopgap option.

All signs are pointing to the San Francisco 49ers getting a fully healthy pass-rusher, Nick Bosa, back from his 2020 ACL tear.

And while that’s great news, the Niners still have plenty of pass-rushing concerns heading into 2021.

Fellow EDGE Dee Ford continues to nurse a serious back injury, which puts his status in doubt for the beginning of the regular season. True, San Francisco added speed rusher Samson Ebukam during the offseason. But Ebukam is more of a situational rusher, and it’s always wise to stockpile pass-rushing depth wherever possible.

Enter the veteran, former Los Angeles Chargers EDGE Melvin Ingram.

Injuries cut into Ingram’s 2020 campaign, limiting him to zero sacks over seven games played. But before that, Ingram was a regular Pro Bowl threat, thrice being named an NFL All-Star and always flirting with double-digit sack totals, which included 24.5 in the three years prior.

At 31 years old, Ingram might be hitting the downward portion of his career. And he certainly wasn’t aided by a crowded pass-rushing free-agent market, which was already weird enough in light of the global pandemic and its effects on the league’s salary cap dropping.

But the longer he waits, the better the chances of him signing a cheap one-year deal.

49ers can afford a short-term deal for Melvin Ingram

The 49ers were one of only a handful of teams that was able to increase their salary cap space while also signing or retaining the bulk of their own free-agent class this offseason. Early in 2020, the Niners had just $11 million available. But after some reworkings and cap casualties, San Francisco now has $18.7 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap.

Plenty enough to offer a player like Ingram a one-year, incentive-laden deal, perhaps in the range of $6 million.

Quality pass-rushers don’t come cheap. But it’s clear the market is lukewarm on Ingram’s services right now and likely will stay that way throughout the NFL Draft into early May. And with the 2021 draft class not featuring a pure bona fide pass-rushing threat at any point between Rounds 1 through 7, there’s a chance Ingram is holding out until afterwards to see if the interest in him increases.

That said, the 49ers could push for him to take that one-year flier and gamble on himself in a system he’s familiar with.

After all, the Chargers ran a nearly similar 4-3 defensive scheme under former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. It would be a fairly seamless transition for Ingram, who owns 49 sacks over his nine-year career.

Plus, Ingram would get to pair up with another Bosa brother after playing with Nick’s older brother, Joey, since 2016. That might be a modest storyline to follow, of course, but it surely would come up in the conversation if the Niners brought Ingram aboard.

More importantly, however, Ingram would be put into a scenario where he could serve as that complementary pass-rusher again, not being asked to do too much and likewise benefiting from the fallout of other teams’ efforts containing Nick Bosa.

San Francisco might not act on this until after the draft, but it should entertain it. If Ingram remains on the market for any length of time, an affordable one-year deal would do a lot of good for the 49ers defense.

Bosa, too.