As head coach Mike McDaniel pointed out before practice Thursday, it’s important for any defense to have depth and Ingram at the very least will bring that to the Dolphins.
That’s the floor. The ceiling is a return to a double-digit sack season, which Ingram did in 2015 and 2017, or another Pro Bowl performance, as Ingram had from 2017-19.
The status just weren’t there for Ingram the past two seasons, with only two sacks in 22 games, but McDaniel says that wasn’t reflective of his effectiveness.
“ I don’t even know how many sacks he totally had, because I don’t look at it that way,” McDaniel said. “My job is to study the player, and what I saw was he had a lot of impact. Specifically, he was a better run defender than I remembered him from the beginning of his career; he’s really grown in that. As a pass rusher, he had a lot of activity in and around the quarterback that, in our opinion, if there was a little more production on those particular plays where he had some really good pass rush moves, his sack total might be twice or three times whatever it is. So he was already producing a little more than people realized in terms of quarterback pressures, and in the system around the guys that we’re playing with, we’re encouraged to add him to the competition.”
INGRAM A LEADER BY EXAMPLE
While the Dolphins made wholesale changes on offense in the offseason, Ingram was one of the few veteran acquisitions on defense.
That doesn’t mean Ingram feels the need to aggressively take on a leadership role.
“ I’m going to go out and work, and that’s how you lead,” he said. “You lead by example. No matter if I’m around young, old or whatever, I’m going to go out and do me. I’m going to be myself, and if people follow, they follow.”
“Be myself.” “Be me.”
That was a common theme during Ingram’s media session.
When he was asked about his target weight for 2022: “I don’t know. It’s probably … I don’t know, to be honest. I feel great. Whatever I come in at, I’m going to be me.”
When he was asked if he feels fully entrenched as a member of the team after being signed in mid-May: “A thousand percent. Man, I’m me – I’m (going to) fit in anywhere.”
When he was asked about being OK with a situational role if that’s how it plays out: “I’m (going to) still be me. Let me cut you off – I’m (going to) still be me.”
When he was asked about his initial conversation with defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and Boyer might have told him: “Coming in and being myself. ‘Just come be you and everything else will take care of itself.’”
When McDaniel’s comments about his performance not being reflected by his stats the past two years: “Of course, I’m still me. I don’t like to talk nobody’s head off. Time will show that I’m still me.”
That’s pretty much what the Dolphins were thinking when they signed him.
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