Steelers’ Mike Tomlin repeats Le’Veon Bell message after Melvin Ingram trade: ‘Volunteers not hostages’

Steelers linebacker Melvin Ingram was traded to the Chiefs on Tuesday in return for a sixth-round draft pick ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

The Steelers had just signed 32-year-old Ingram in the offseason. What sparked the trade, though, was Ingram reportedly wanting more playing time on the Steelers. Through seven games, he was only a starting player in one Steelers game and he played in six total games.

Following the announcement of the trade, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was asked about the swift departure of a significant offseason addition during a Tuesday press conference. He offered a similar response to what he said following the 2018 trade of Le’Veon Bell.

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“What the team needs is first and foremost,” Tomlin said, via Jenna Harner of WPXI. “But from a team perspective, it’s better to have volunteers than it is to have hostages.”

Tomlin said the same response in an interview with ESPN’s Dianna Russini in 2018.

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Based on these two trades, the Steelers have shown that they only want players who have a desire to play on the team and help advance the team in any way. Since Ingram hadn’t played much this season and he didn’t want to stay in Pittsburgh, Tomlin saw this as an easy trade.

According to NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala, Tomlin also talked on Tuesday about how “personality fits are sometimes a crapshoot in free agency,” and that’s why they plan to build through the draft.

“I enjoyed working with Melvin Ingram,” Tomlin said, via the Steelers’ YouTube Channel. “It just didn’t work out the way we envisioned, the way he envisioned. Sometimes that happens in free agency.”

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The Steelers will continue using Alex Highsmith as their primary linebacker. Highsmith already has 25 total tackles this season.