Saints offensive tackle Terron Armstead missed New Orleans’ last two games while he dealt with COVID-19.
He found out he’d tested positive for the coronavirus just before the team left for for its Week 12 matchup with the Denver Broncos and Armstead his initial reaction to the news was that he was “pissed.”
“I felt normal,” Armstead said. “I’m ready to get on the plane to go to Denver. And then, probably like that Monday… symptoms started to kick in.
“And I just was extremely exhausted. My body was drained. Just tired, never got a fever or anything. A few more days later, lost my taste and smell, which is weird, and kind of torture for a big guy.”
Armstead was activated from the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list this and said he’s excited to be back in the Saints lineup as the team head to Philadelphia for a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Eagles.
“These last two weeks I wasn't able to do anything,” he said. “So, sitting in the house. Didn't see sunlight for two weeks. So, it was a tough, rough little stretch. But, extremely excited to get back and looking forward to this trip tomorrow."
Armstead who’s dealt with injuries throughout his career said it was frustrating that COVID-19 kept him from meeting his goal of being able to play in all the Saints regular season games.
“But what could I do and completely out of my control,” he said. “And then that's been pretty much the trail, the story of the season. There's been things coming up and we've done a great job as a team. The Saints have done a great job as an organization of making judgments and finding ways to get the job done week after week."
Armstead also had another reason to be excited this week as he released his first album.
“It's great. It's been done for a long time, man, but it's just a lot of logistics and business that goes into music, that I honestly had no idea about,” he said. “So, that's what's been the hold up, but it's great to finally have it out."
The album features the song “B.O.A.,” which has been played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, also feature a song called “Superbowl” where he mentions several of his Saints teammates.
"They love it. They love it,” he said. “I got a couple guys that were like, where's my name drop at. It's just all experiences from Super Bowl weekend last year. Going down for Man of the Year (competition) and then seeing Mark Ingram and Lamar Jackson winning MVP, Mike T (Michael Thomas) winning (NFL) Offensive Player of the Year. Walking in with Cam J (Cam Jordan). So, just all experiences from last year in Miami."