HOUSTON – Ed Ingram leaned back into his blocking stance, pivoting his feet across the scalding-hot artificial turf before powerfully shooting his hands forward.
Technique and bad intentions rule the day at the line of scrimmage where the Texans’ veteran right offensive guard plies his trade.
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And Ingram is determined to make all of his hard work count, devoting himself to overtime sessions with his trainer: Marvin ‘Mr. Get Rite’ Hollie.
Back with the Texans on a three-year, $37.5 million contract that included a $13.75 million signing bonus and $23.5 million total guaranteed, Ingram has equally big ambitions and optimism about this season. Instead of leaving in free agency after a resurgent season with the Texans following a trade from the Minnesota Vikings, Ingram is back with a returning playoff squad and he couldn’t be happier.
“I love Houston, I love this team,” Ingram told KPRC 2 after a long training session with Hollie and Los Angeles Rams offensive guard Kevin Dotson and Tennessee Titans offensive lineman and former Texans draft pick Austin Deculus. “It’s just like an energy you feel just walking into the building with this team. The Houston Texans, it’s a different feeling. Everybody’s close, tight-knit. We all are in this together.
“We fight for each other every day. Appreciate everybody that supported me, that has been supporting me, that will support me. We’re going to have a great year this year. We’re going to win a game. Mark my words, we’re going to that Super Bowl.”
After being drafted in the second round by the Vikings, the former All-Southeastern Conference selection and national champion from LSU ultimately lost his starting job. It was obviously time for a fresh start.
Traded to the Texans in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick, Ingram started 14 games last season for a playoff squad. He resurrected his career as one of the highest graded offensive guards in the league. Ingram attributes that turnaround to taking stock of his career and the tough love coaching style of offensive line coach and run game coordinator Cole Popovich.
The camaraderie of the offensive line, the coaching and the financial commitment made by the Texans made his decision to stay an easy choice.
“What better place for them to be than Houston?” Ingram said. “I came here, I excelled. Shout out to Cole Popovich. He never let me get complacent, and he always challenged me. Personally, I’ve always thought I’m a great player. All I need is the right person to help me. Coming here was probably the best thing to ever happen to me in my career, coming here and having a coach.
“Pretty much take me under his wing and kind of hone in my skills, because the skills were there. It just needed to be honed in and just controlled a little bit. It has helped me out tremendously.”
Ingram was, early in the season, the second-highest rated run blocking guard in the league behind only Indianapolis Colts All-Pro offensive guard Quenton Nelson. Ingram had a 86.1 run blocking grade through the first month of the NFL season, according to Pro Football Focus analytics, behind only Nelson at 90.1. Ingram, a former second-round draft pick from LSU, had the 12th lowest pressure rate allowed (6.4 percent) among all offensive guards, per Next Gen Stats.
He finished the season with a 75.6 run blocking grade, eighth-best in the NFL, and a 71.5 overall blocking grade to rank 18th in the league.
And Ingram displayed a go-for-the-throat nasty mentality, knocking down defensive linemen and finishing his blocks with intensity and purpose.
“I’m thinking about the family that’s helped me get to where I’m at,” said Ingram, a DeSoto graduate. “To keep a legacy and to just build my family up in the future. Another guy’s trying to make you look bad. You’re trying to make him look bad. There’s only going to be a winner or a loser. There’s not going to be any in-between. Me, personally, I’m not going to lose. That’s my mindset.
“Every time I go into the field, it’s like I’m going to dominate whoever I go against. And whoever I go against, I’m going to try to put fear into their hearts, even though, like, I’m not afraid of anybody but God. The money I have, the gifts I have was all given to me by Him.”
Obviously, there was a lot of money available to Ingram in all likelihood on the open NFL marketplace. Instead of testing free agency, though, Ingram wanted to be in Houston.
The contract was negotiated by Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports.
The deal averages $12.5 million, ranking him in the top 20 among all guards. The deal includes $20 million fully guaranteed at signing and a full $23.5 million guaranteed by March of 2027.
“My thing has always been to listen to my agent, Nicole,” said Ingram of Lynn, who negotiated All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr.’s record-breaking three-year, $150 million contract extension as the highest paid non-quarterback. “She’s one of the top agents in the game right now, if not the top agent. And she got me here to Houston, which turned out to be one of the best decisions of my career, and the fact that the conversation we had to keep me here in Houston was the best for me and my family. So, kudos to Nicole Lynn.
And now Ingram is back with the team going forward as a cornerstone of an offensive line coached by Popovich.
The Texans have significantly overhauled their offensive line. General manager Nick Caserio has invested a ton of resources into the blocking.
Besides retaining Ingram on a new contract just before free agency began, the Texans signed former Pro Bowl guard Wyatt Teller to a two-year, $23 million contract, signed former Indianapolis Colts right tackle Braden Smith to a two-year, $25 million deal, brought back massive swing tackle Trent Brown on a one-year, $7 million deal and drafted center-guard Keylan ‘Big Red’ Rutledge in the first round. After quarterback C.J. Stroud was sacked a career-low 23 times last season, the expectations for the offensive line are much higher.
“The offensive line, we have gelled together quite well,” Ingram said. “I feel like Pop has got a good group of guys in a room together. We are all like-minded and all have one common goal, which is just showing each and everybody that the line here, that it’s changed. We’re doing a complete 180, and we’re a different line, we’re a different unit, and that the team can rely on us to run behind us, block for C.J. and we’re going to have a great year.”
At the NFL scouting combine, Caserio signaled that Ingram would be a negotiating priority.
Ingram showed flashes with the Vikings, but never achieved this standard of consistency. He played like a man with something to prove.
“Ed had a great year,” Caserio said in late February before negotiating a new deal with Ingram. “Honestly, he probably had the best year of his career. He’s a good kid. He’s strong. He’s physical. He plays violent in the running game. You saw that on tape quite a bit. Pretty good in pass protection.
“He’s a player that we feel benefited from our program. Honestly, sometimes a change in scenery is good. It probably worked out for him and worked out for us as well.”
Stroud has had a strong offseason, working diligently for months after a rocky performance in the playoffs. The former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year is in optimal condition and has impressed teammates and coaches throughout the spring. He is looking to rebound from an uncharacteristically erratic postseason that included five interceptions and five fumbles in two playoff games.
“I just expect C.J. to be C.J.,” Ingram said. “Ever since he’s been in the NFL for the Houston Texans, we’ve been to the playoffs year after year after year. So, whatever he’s done, he just keeps learning, keeps getting better and better.
“I love C.J. as a person. I love him as a player. He’s a great competitor. He’s a great leader. I’m expecting him to have a great year, and I know he will have a great year.”
The Texans traded for former Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery as the new centerpiece to their running game, which struggled last season after Pro Bowl runner Joe Mixon was ruled out for the season with a chronic foot injury that required surgery.
Montgomery, signed to a two-year, $16.5 million extension after the trade, has made a large impression with his downhill running style.
“D-Mo, I was super excited when he got here,” Ingram said. “I remember playing against him when I was with the Vikings and seeing him at Detroit. That kid has some juice.
“So the fact that we got him now, I’m super excited. I know we’re going to open up some holes for him, and he’s going to see it and maneuver his way and make some big plays. He’s a really great addition to this team, and I feel like he’s going to be really valued here on the team.”
Ingram got married this offseason. He feels the stability in his personal and professional life.
“It’s amazing to finally just start to settle down,” Ingram said. “I got a wife, have a house, and I don’t have to move, I don’t have to rent anymore, now I have a three-year contract here with Houston.
“I can finally stay here and just focus on being consistent and just continuously building myself up as an athlete and as a man and also helping the community out here in Houston.”
Ingram and his wife are planning a community outreach event through their church in partnership with Waltrip High School to collect school supplies for kids and raise money for teachers.
“People don’t show teachers as much appreciation as they are deserved,” Ingram said. “They are probably the backbone of our country because they are raising up the next generation of kids.”
Ingram is accustomed to winning.
In high school, DeSoto went 16-0 with Ingram leading the charge to a state championship as a blue-chip recruit. At LSU, he won a national championship on a 15-0 squad. Now, he’s looking to take the next step with the Texans.
“I’m very competitive, I hate losing,” Ingram said. “I grew up here in DeSoto, Texas, playing some of the top football in high school, and I just hate losing. I’m just trying to win, you know, and here we win.”
Practice is challenging for the Texans’ offense. They’re competing against the top-ranked defense in the NFL, a unit headlined by Pro Bowl defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, Pro Bowl middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
“It makes us better,” Ingram said. “We’re going against one of the best units, if not the best unit, in NFL football. The fact that we can go against that every day, mind you, it’s not easy, but that’s the point.
“Practice is supposed to be hard to make the games easier. So the fact that we can go against that competition just makes us all that much better.”
Throughout minicamp and organized team activities, the offense has looked sharper and more efficient. The tempo is faster, too, under second-year offensive coordinator Nick Caley.
“This year has been like night and day compared to last year,” Ingram said. “We are so far ahead of where we were last year as far as a team, a collective as a team. I’m super excited to see where we’re going to go.
“When we come back here for training camp, I know we’re just going to excel and just take off from there. Last season was a great season. I feel like this season is going to be even better.”
The work is nonstop. And Ingram, devoted to his craft and training in the Texas heat, is getting ready for the rigors of the season alongside Hollie.
“Ed, they’ve invested in him, they feel good about his level of play, but he’s not satisfied,” said Hollie, who also trains NFL linemen Dorance Armstrong, Patrick Paul and Josh Jones. “A lot of guys, after they sign a big contract, maybe they would do something else. Maybe they’d be on these longer vacations, or maybe not out here on a hot day trying to get better.
“Ed is a true pro, and he keeps getting better each and every session. David will have a great time running behind Ed. Ed is going to clear the hole. He’s going to open it up like he did last year. As he keeps putting his feet on the ground, he keeps getting stronger. The hole is going to be open.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com