Saints: It looks like Julio Jones is on his way out of the NFC South

The New Orleans Saints might have to deal with Julio Jones twice a year anymore. While appearing on FOX Sports, the Falcons wide receiver said, (referring to Atlanta, of course), “I’m out of there, man.” (Quote courtesy of NFL.com).

If Jones is indeed done with Atlanta and the Falcons trade him, the Saints will no longer have to face the dynamic wide receiver two times a year. They’ve had to do this since 2011 when Jones entered the league after the Falcons traded up to nab him early in that year’s draft.

Since then, Jones has totaled 102 receptions for 1,615 yards and three touchdowns in 18 games against the Saints. The lack of touchdowns is surprising but Jones has never been a huge end zone threat in Atlanta for whatever reason.

Even with the lack of touchdowns, Jones still had his fair share of solid games against the Saints, recording over 100 yards receiving in six games and coming close to 100 yards in five other games. He was someone the Saints defense always had to game plan around and not having to do that sounds glorious.

Saints fans are thrilled about the Julio Jones drama.

The Falcons took Florida tight end Kyle Pitts with the No. 4 overall pick and while Saints fans don’t want to admit it, that made the Atlanta offense look pretty freaking scary. Trading Jones takes out a major weapon and gets him out of the division, which is ideal.

The Saints are going to have a tough enough time trying to prevent the Bucs from dethroning them in the NFC South but now that Atlanta might be without their top weapon, that’s one less team to worry about.

Even though he’s been a Falcon for the entirety of his career, it’s hard to deny how good of a player Jones has been and he’s put that on full display over the past decade, especially against the Saints.

Hopefully, the Falcons do indeed trade Jones and he’s out of the division for good.