The Chiefs placed a UFA tender on edge rusher Melvin Ingram this week in a move that gives them exclusive negotiating rights with the free agent if he’s unsigned on July 22 and benefits them in the compensatory draft pick signing formula if he signs with someone else.
Ingram would stand to make 110 percent of his 2021 salary if he does return to the Chiefs under the terms of the rarely used tender and that would allow the Chiefs to retain a player who played a major role for them down the stretch last year. On Tuesday, General Manager Brett Veach said that using the tender also helps ensure that the Chiefs will have a chance to weigh in before Ingram signs with anyone else.
“I think what this UFA tender does is, it allows us the ability to communicate and not have either him or his agent do something without us being in the mix. And I think that’s what we want to do,” Veach said, via Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star. “We don’t know where this is going to go. I can say that we would love to have him back, and it would make sense for us. But regardless, I think now it at least allows us a chance to have dialogue with them before they decide to do anything, if they decide to do something somewhere else.”
The Chiefs drafted George Karlaftis late in the first round and have Frank Clark and Mike Danna back on the edge from last season. Ingram would fill out that group, but it may still be some time before there’s anything concrete to report about his plans for the future.