Latest NFL news proves that the Saints just got used as a pawn in a chess game by their biggest rival

The New Orleans Saints front office and coaching staff just suffered a tough loss. They missed out on signing Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons when he visited the team last week.

Saints lose Justin Simmons sweepstakes to the Falcons

The Saints lose out on one of their largest targets of the offseason. To make matters worse, their toughest competition in the NFC South has added two veteran talents in the last 48 hours. Edge rusher Matthew Judon joined Atlanta on Thursday in a trade with the New England Patriots . -- A to Z Sports

Simmons had talked to New Orleans for months. Both sides had interest and made sense for each other.

At the buzzer, Atlanta seemingly swooped in and locked him up after a productive visit earlier this week. Against multiple odds (staff connections, salary cap room, etc.), the Saints' biggest rival went into free agency and landed the big fish that New Orleans needed badly for their secondary.

Did Simmons use the Saints as a negotiating ploy for the Falcons?

That sort of strategy would make plenty of sense for him. He received a one-year deal for $8 million from the Falcons. It's possible that his perceived interest in the Saints forced the Falcons to pony up more money on the short-term contract.

The Saints-Falcons rivalry is still fierce, and don't be shocked if former Saints front office member, and now Falcons GM, Terry Fontenot wanted to twist the knife a bit deeper. That was surely added motivation for Atlanta to beat out New Orleans in this scenario.

The length of the deal is the biggest piece that raises questions.

Simmons is still just thirty years old. There seemingly was not much interest in anyone giving him a multi-year contract, even though he's been quite productive over the last couple of seasons entering his age thirty season.

Atlanta did exactly what New Orleans was hoping to do. They answered a major roster question less than a month till the season.

Now, Atlanta and general manager Terry Fontenot have addressed a defense that came into training camp with question marks with two major acquisitions in two days.

-- Adam Schefter

All in all, the miss is another tough break for the Saints. They needed another impact talent at safety.

Jordan Howden is projected to start opposite Tyrann Mathieu, but Dennis Allen notes that no player has truly stepped up for that role in practice or the first preseason game.

That position battle will go down to the wire between Johnathan Abram, Will Harris, and Roderic Teamer. I would expect New Orleans to add another free agent veteran to compete for the rest of the offseason now. We will see how they attack the position going forward.

Related: New Orleans Saints swing and miss on big-time free agent signing once again