Late Friday evening, the Kansas City Chiefs traded Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans for a 2025 third-round pick. Although the compensation for their star cornerback was underwhelming, the move did free up much-needed cap space.
In trading L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans, the Kansas City Chiefs lose one of their most significant defensive assets. In exchange, General Manager Brett Veach now has $27.4 Million in cap space. What he does with that free cash could define the team’s success this year and next.
With Linebacker Nick Bolton, Guard Trey Smith, and Center Creed Humphries looking for extensions in 2025, Kansas City’s move to trade the 27-year-old cornerback made a lot of sense.
Still, it is surprising that Kansas City could only net a 2025 third-round pick and swap seven-round picks in 2024 for arguably the best cover cornerback in the NFL, but with no other suitors, Veach took what he could get for Sneed.
Sneed made it clear that he wanted to cash out, and the team with the highest guarantee won. The Titans are giving him a four-year deal worth $78 Million, which includes $55 Million in guarantees.
Veach had recently attempted to negotiate a deal with Sneed’s agent, but Kansas City wasn’t willing to extend the deal over four years. They preferred three years at the same salary number the Titans gave him.
I’m happy for Sneed because the young man deserved to get paid. He’ll be a perfect addition to a Titans team that is trying to rebuild its core with prime-time players. In the early days of free agency, the Titans signed Wide Receiver Calvin Ridley to an over-the-market deal, and they’ve done the same with Sneed.
The Titans are the fourth-best team in the AFC South, behind the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Indianapolis Colts. However, to stay relevant in the division, they needed to upgrade their talent on both sides of the ball.
The Chiefs can now address some of their own free-agent needs internally and externally. In addition, the 2025 extra third-round pick will likely be used to trade up in the first or second round of this year’s NFL draft.
Kansas City can now enter free agency. Although they do not have a starting left tackle on the roster, they could use another running back to team with Isiah Pacheco, another veteran receiver, and another pass rusher, which wouldn’t hurt.
The Chiefs have been linked to several free agents in the past week, including Wide Receiver OBJ and running Back JK Dobbins. They could also retain Left Tackle Donovan Smith for another year.
Veach knew that heading into the offseason, Sneed would be expendable once he signed Drue Tranquill and Chris Jones to extensions. Granted, losing a cornerback of his talent does hurt his defense, but Veach has drafted the entire Chiefs starting secondary, and I suspect he’ll add another one in April’s NFL draft.
Sneed was a warrior defender for the Chiefs, and his play in the AFC title game, causing Ravens Receiver Zay Flowers to fumble, was the play of the year defensively for Kansas City. Without that punch out and recovery in the end zone, perhaps the Chiefs won’t win the AFC Title game.
Either way, the Chiefs lost a great player and one that will be hard to replace.
