The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs placed unrestricted free agent tenders on Justin Houston and Melvin Ingram on Monday (per ESPN), a rare move ahead of the deadline where free agents who sign with a new team no longer count towards the NFL‘s compensatory pick formula.
Since the Ravens placed the tender on Houston and the Chiefs on Ingram, both players would count towards the compensatory pick formula if they were to sign with another team before July 22 — or the start of their team’s training camp (whatever comes first). With Houston and Ingram on the unrestricted free agent tender, each player will make 110% of their 2021 salary.
Ingram will be offered a $4.4 million contract by the Chiefs that he can sign at any time. If he doesn’t sign with any team, he’ll remain with Kansas City. The Chiefs would receive a compensatory draft pick if Ingram signs elsewhere. Houston’s one-year tender is worth $2.3 million.
Proving he still can get after the quarterback in Kansas City, Ingram finished with 15 tackles, five quarterback hits, a sack, and a forced fumble in nine games with the Chiefs. The two sacks between Pittsburgh and Kansas City didn’t tell the whole story, as Ingram finished with 41 pressures and 33 hurries on the year.
Houston finished with 4.5 sacks in 15 games, his lowest in a season when he played 10 or more games in his career. He finished with 39 pressures and 17 quarterback hits with 25 hurries. The Chiefs and Ravens could both use veteran pass rushers to go with the talent they added in the draft (Chiefs added George Karlaftis and Ravens selected David Ojabo), making the tenders valuable for both rosters in 2022.
