Getty Images

Halfway through last season, it looked like the Chargers might reverse course on their decision to exercise the fifth-year option on linebacker Melvin Ingram’s contract.

The 2012 first-round pick had missed 19 games over the previous two seasons because of a torn ACL and a hip injury and he had just 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits in the first seven games of the 2015 season. Things took a major turn for the better from that point, though.

Ingram had nine sacks and 16 quarterback hits in the final nine games of the year, making it the most productive stretch of his NFL career and giving him a high note to build off as he heads into his fifth year with the team. Ingram says he expects to do just that.

“I ain’t showed nothing,” Ingram said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I have so much to show. … You ain’t even seen what I got going on. … When the season starts, everyone is going to see. It’s fixing to get real.”

Confirming that the close to last season is the kind of play teams can expect in the future would prove to be lucrative for Ingram as he heads into free agency. If some of the other early draft picks on San Diego’s defense can make similar leaps in production, it should make for a more pleasant season in San Diego across the board.