As the Chiefs work around injuries and inexperienced candidates at cornerback, there’s a talented veteran who wanted to play for them this season.
L’Jarius Sneed.
He’s now a member of the Tennessee Titans, of course, dealt in a March trade that brought the Chiefs a 2025 third-round pick and a swap of seventh-round selections this year. Sneed signed a four-year deal with an average salary of $19.1 million.
But he said leaving Kansas City wasn’t his choice.
“I didn’t talk to them. I was upset,” Sneed said on the Pivot Podcast. “Kansas City, that’s like my first love. They showed me the ways, showed me how to be a champion, gave me two rings.
“I didn’t talk to them. I was bitter and angry because I wanted to stay in that environment around everybody I was used to. But it’s God’s plan.”
The Chiefs had plenty of financial priorities this offseason. They made defensive tackle Chris Jones, tight end Travis Kelce and kicker Harrison Butker the NFL’s highest-paid players at their respective positions, while also offering contracts to such players as linebacker Drue Tranquill and defensive linemen Tershawn Wharton and Derrick Nnadi.
Sneed was coming off an excellent year, having recorded a career-high 14 passes defensed and allowing no touchdowns in the regular season — this despite seeing 90 more targets than the nearest defender, per Next Gen Stats.
Sneed’s forced fumble of Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers — as Flowers was about to cross into the end zone — was one of the biggest plays in this year’s AFC Championship Game.
The Chiefs will raise the Super Bowl LVIII championship banner that Sneed helped them win on Sept. 5, when they open the season against the Baltimore Ravens at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. KC’s starting cornerbacks figure to be Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, with Joshua Williams and Nazeeh Johnson behind them.
Charmarri Conner has played some slot corner and safety. Watson, Williams and Johnson have battled injuries in the preseason.
