Great Players The Saints Could Have Drafted: Bruce Armstrong

The 2016 NFL Draft gets underway on Thursday, April 28, in Chicago, Illinois.

Between now and then, we’ll be looking back at some of the past drafts by the Saints, and some of the better players they passed up on when it was their turn to pick.

Of course, every NFL team has had their “steals” and “busts” over the years, as the NFL Draft is such an inexact science, but it’s kind of fun, and at times, agonizing, to look back and see what players they could have, and maybe even should have drafted.

Today, we go back to the 1987 NFL Draft.

In the first round, with the 11th-overall pick, the Saints selected BYU defensive lineman Shawn Knight.

Knight is one of the biggest first round draft busts in Saints history, playing only one year, and 10 games for the franchise, and in only 31 games in his entire NFL career.

12 picks later, with the 23rd-overall pick, the New England Patriots took Louisville offensive tackle Bruce Armstrong.

It was an outstanding pick by the Patriots, as Armstrong turned out to be a very good offensive tackle in the late 1980's, and through the entire decade of the 90's.

A 6-time Pro Bowler, Armstrong became a starter in his rookie season, and started every game he played in until the end of the 2000 campaign, when he retired.

In 14 seasons, all with the Patriots, Armstrong played in, and started, 212 games.

Armstrong, one of the top tackles for more than a decade, would have helped solidify the Saints' offensive line.