Former Duke football star Graham Barton to miss Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ruled out center Graham Barton, their first-round pick from Duke, for Sunday’s game against New Orleans.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to New Orleans for a divisional matchup against the Saints in Week 6, but the defending NFC South champions will play without rookie center [autotag]Graham Barton[/autotag].

Head coach Todd Bowles confirmed on Friday that Barton, who had not practiced all week with a hamstring injury, won’t play on Sunday.

Tampa Bay picked Barton, a two-time All-ACC lineman with the Blue Devils, with the 26th overall pick in April’s NFL draft. The former tackle became the third Duke football player taken in the first round since 1987, and the Buccaneers moved him back to the position he played as a freshman.

Barton, who earned the highest Pro Football Focus grade of any rookie offensive lineman in the preseason, played all 298 snaps of Tampa Bay’s first five games. He finished Week 5 with a 58.0 offensive grade, 22nd among qualifying centers around the league, and he’s credited one sack and nine hurries allowed to start the season.