HBCU Legend Terron Armstead enters Saints Hall of Fame Class of 2026

NEW ORLEANS — HBCU legend and NFL offensive lineman Terron Armstead protected Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston, and other quarterbacks for nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints. On Thursday afternoon at the team’s headquarters in Metairie, Armstead and former teammate Mark Ingram II joined an exclusive group of players and notables in the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.  

Armstead attended a press conference as one of the newest members of the Saints Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 on Thursday, joining former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram II.  Also, longtime press box security supervisor, Sal La Rock, was named the organization’s  Joe Gemeli “Fleur de Lis” Award winner.

The Saints Hall of Fame selection committee chose the pair for official induction later this year.   Armstead was named the first UAPB football ambassador for the Golden Lions.

He was considered one of the smoothest blind-side protectors of his era, giving Drew Brees time to surgically dismantle opponents’ defensive backfields.  Armstead’s enshrinement carries weight well beyond New Orleans. He arrived from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, an HBCU and SWAC member, and New Orleans took him 75th overall in the 2013 draft. The pick was the earliest a Golden Lion had ever been selected by an NFL team. Another Saints legend, Steve Gleason, who is battling ALS, announced the pick.

He started 93 games at left tackle across nine seasons in New Orleans, earned three Pro Bowl selections and a second-team All-Pro nod in 2018, and anchored the line that became one of the most prolific offenses in league history with Brees at quarterback and Sean Payton as the play-caller.

Armstead appeared in 97 regular-season games and nine playoff contests in a Saints uniform before leaving as a free agent, signing with the Miami Dolphins in 2022. He officially retired from the National Football League in April 2025 after playing 12 seasons.  He was inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame that same year.

Ingram reached New Orleans by a different road. The 28th overall pick in 2011 out of Alabama, where in 2009 he became the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy winner, he spent his first eight seasons with the Saints and ran for 6,007 yards and 50 touchdowns on 1,321 carries before stints with Baltimore and Houston. He returned to New Orleans in 2021 and retired as the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, a mark since passed by Alvin Kamara.

The two were Saints teammates from 2013 through 2018 and again in 2021 when Ingram returned.  He gained entrance into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame Class in January of 2026.   His enshrinement ceremony will take place on Dec. 8 in Las Vegas.

The Saints will formally induct the Class of 2026 at the team’s annual Hall of Fame ceremony later this season. When Armstead takes his place among the franchise’s enshrined, he brings UAPB, the SWAC, and all HBCU football programs onto the stage with him.

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