The New Orleans Saints announced their 2026 Hall of Fame class on Thursday. Mark Ingram and Terron Armstead were already Saints legends, but now they will be immortalized in Saints history.
While it can be difficult to quantify how good an offensive lineman is, it's a short list of Saints who passed the eye test more than Armstead did. Put the accolades aside, he was one of the best left tackles in the business throughout his career. He was a mauler in the run game, and his athleticism made him a phenomenal pass protector.
Ingram and Armstead have both broken into media after their career. Ingram showed his personality frequently in the back half of his career, and a move into the media felt appropriate. Armstead's pivot was less expected, but he's settled in quickly with his show, The Set. He's had many guests and even broke the news of Cam Jordan flying to New Orleans for final negotiations.
Mark Ingram tends to get lost in the shuffle at times
When looking back at Mark Ingram's Saints career, it's easy for his time to get lost in the shuffle most because he wasn't as flashy as Reggie Bush or his successor, Alvin Kamara. The Saints drafting Ingram was a clear signal of the end of the Bush experiment, so there were natural comparisons early in his career.
It took Ingram a few years to truly find his footing, and fans weren't quiet about their displeasure at the time. Ingram began to pick up steam in Year 4. Injuries kept him from 1000 rushing yards, but he was on pace to reach those metrics in Year 4 and 5.
Once Ingram put it together with the addition of health, it wasn't long before he was in a shared backfield with Kamara. Ingram is just a different player than Kamara, and the latter plays a more exciting brand of football that sometimes overshadows what Ingram was able to do in his career.
It sometimes gets lost that Ingram truly did begin to put together some successful campaigns. If he doesn't get hurt in 2018, it's no clue what would have happened. He was playing his best football and growing into a much better receiving threat out of the backfield. The duo of him and Kamara worked so well because defenses had to be on alert for the run or pass when either was on the field.
Ingram retired at the top of the list for every major rushing statistic in Saints history. Over the first eight years of his career in New Orleans, Saints fans got to see one of the most decorated careers in team history and the development of a young running back live
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