Los Angeles Chargers Franchise Tag Melvin Ingram

In a very unsurprising move, the Chargers have franchise tagged Melvin Ingram.

After 18.5 sacks in the last two seasons, the Chargers have offered to put the franchise tag on Melvin Ingram. According to Chargers.com, they have placed the “non exclusive” tag on Ingram, meaning that other teams are allowed to negotiate and sign Melvin Ingram to a contract that the Chargers are allowed to match. If the Chargers decline to match, the Chargers would receive two first-round draft picks from the new team.

After much deliberation, and no consensus, this seemed to be the best move in eyes of Charger fans, and us at BFTB. According to some reports, Ingram was requesting in the neighborhood of $17 million a year, which is absolutely absurd for a player who consistently can’t wrap up the quarterback. Depending on if the Chargers tagged him as an OLB (as listed on Chargers.com), or as a DE (as listed on NFL.com), the price range will differ by about $2 million.

Preliminary estimates show that the tag would be worth about $14.6 million as an Outside linebacker, and $16.9 million as a DE. At this point in time, the Chargers are free to negotiate a long-term deal with him until the end of July 15th, at which point, Ingram will be forced to play on the tag, and re-sign a contract once the 2017 season expires. If the Chargers chose to tag him once again, it would be at 120% of his previous year’s salary, which would be roughly $17.5 million as an OLB, or $20.28 million as a DE.

I, for one, would not mind if a team like the Colts threw a ton of money at Ingram (with the Chargers failing to match), and the Chargers receiving two extra first round picks in his stead. That would give the team significant ammunition in the next two drafts to grab difference makers. That being said, it’s pretty unlikely a team will pay Ingram $18 million a year AND give up 2 first round picks.