The Pittsburgh Steelers knew they needed pass rush help heading into the 2021 regular season. There was no feasible way they could go into the season with just T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Cassius Marsh and rookie 6th round pick Quincy Roche.
After releasing David DeCastro, the team had the financial flexibility to make a play at several big name free agents. The two names who were always atop the free agent list were Justin Houston and Melvin Ingram.
Houston was coming off a stellar season with the Indianapolis Colts, and Ingram had a pretty rough injury history during his time with the Chargers.