The Third-Round Pick From a Tiny HBCU Just Made the Saints Hall of Fame

Terron Armstead stood at the podium and let it sink in. The kid from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the small school where film was hard to find and scouts had to guess on half his measurements, is now a New Orleans Saints Hall of Famer.

He’ll be inducted alongside former teammate Mark Ingram, the running back who helped turn those Saints offenses into something special. But this moment belongs to Armstead in a way that hits different.

“Got my family here in the front row,” Armstead said at the press conference. “A lot of the leaders of the organization that took a chance on me, a kid out of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Really small school, probably hard to see my film. Mickey, you guessed on a lot of things, but it worked.”

How a late-round gamble paid off for a decade

The Saints drafted Armstead in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. That’s not premium real estate for offensive linemen. But he started 93 games over nine seasons in New Orleans and added nine more in the playoffs. Three straight Pro Bowl nods from 2018 to 2020 and a First-Team All-Pro in 2018. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t supposed to be this good.

His job was protecting Drew Brees’ blind side. He did that well enough that the Saints offense became one of the most consistent units in the league for years. And when your running backs include Ingram, Alvin Kamara, and Latavius Murray, that left tackle spot better be locked down. Armstead made it work.

After New Orleans, he spent three seasons with the Miami Dolphins and picked up another Pro Bowl honor before retiring in 2025.

The off-field stuff matters too

Armstead wasn’t just a locker room presence. He was a team captain from 2018 to 2021 and got nominated for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2019. His foundation does work in communities that don’t always get attention. He also took home the Ed Block Courage Award, which says a lot about how teammates and coaches saw him.

At the podium, Armstead summed it up the way only he could.

“Being in this hall of fame for this organization representing this city is … I couldn’t write a better story. It’s perfect for me. It’s perfect for my family. This is everything for me.”

He’s not wrong. The story writes itself when you come from a place that barely makes it onto a scout’s map and end up in a team’s hall of fame. The Saints took a swing on Armstead. He made it a home run.