Terron Armstead continues to be a rock on Saints’ OL

The biggest caveat for Terron Armstead’s dominance as the left tackle for the New Orleans Saints has always been the same thing. Injuries. For his entire eight-year pro career since the Saints drafted him out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2013, Armstead’s dominance on the field has been unquestioned. However, his ability to stay on it was anything but. In his eight years on the Saints, Armstead has only played 14+ regular season games three times, with two of them coming in the last two seasons.

Armtstead’s ability to finally stay on the field has made him even more valuable to Sean Payton’s offense, as his stalwart left tackle has only missed three games in the last two seasons.

When Armstead’s on the field, he’s one of the premier left tackles in the entire NFL. In 2020, he was given a 87.1 pass blocking grade by Pro Football Focus, good for 5th among all tackles (left or right) in the league. Armstead also allowed just 15 [regular season] pressures from the left side this season, the 4th fewest amongst all left tackles in the NFL. He did this all while having to go on the COVID list back on November 28, missing a pair of games at the back end of the Saints’ season.

Incredibly, this might’ve been Armstead’s most productive season yet. While offensive linemen are hard to analyze from a box score perspective, we can see that he gave up a pressure on just 3.34% of pass blocking snaps (regular season + playoffs). That’s the 3rd-lowest rate of his career, while he also played over 1,000 snaps for just the second time in his career. Armstead is aging incredibly well and whoever lines up at QB for the Saints in 2021 will have the fortune of having the former Arkansas-Pine Bluff man keeping him upright.

Armstead will also be heading into the final year of his current contract in 2021, scheduled to hit free agency in 2022. Obviously the Saints will have no intentions of letting him go, so expect to see them try to prioritize a contract extension for the 3-time Pro Bowler at some point this offseason or early next.

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