Former LSU LB Deion Jones Traded By Injury-Riddled Saints To 49ers For RB Zamir White

TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES

That ended up being a short homecoming.

The New Orleans Saints traded former LSU linebacker and New Orleans native Deion Jones on Sunday to San Francisco for running back Zamir White just three weeks after the Saints signed Jones to a one-year deal.

Jones, 31, played at Tampa Bay in 2024 and ’25, Carolina in 2023 and Cleveland in 2022 after seven seasons with Saints’ rival Atlanta, which selected him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of LSU as the No. 52 overall pick.

DEION JONES WAS ON HIS FOURTH OF FOUR NFC SOUTH TEAMS

The Saints needed running back help after a slew of injuries there – Devin Neal (hamstring), Audric Estime (foot) and Alvin Kamara (knee) – just in the last week. New Orleans’ only healthy backs in addition to White for its final preseason game on Friday at Dallas are Travis Etienne, Kendre Miller and undrafted free agent C.J. Donaldson. And second-year coach Kellen Moore doesn’t want to play Etienne as he wants to rest his starters before the opener on Sept. 13 at Detroit.

New Orleans is 0-2 in the preseason after an embarrassing, 34-0 loss at the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. Moore was 6-11 in his first season with the Saints in 2025.

White, 26, was primarily a backup in his first four seasons in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders, gaining 736 yards on 198 carries in 45 games and nine starts. He signed with the 49ers after last season.

Jones started regularly in only his last season with the Tigers in 2015, making 100 tackles from outside linebacker. He made the Pro Bowl with Atlanta in 2017 and is remembered for intercepting Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the end zone with less than two minutes to play in week 14 that year to preserve a 20-17 Falcons’ win in Atlanta on Thursday Night Football.