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The biggest move of the offseason for the Kansas City Chiefs was when the team traded star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick and a swap of 2024 seventh-round picks. It was a move that made Sneed bitter toward the organization that drafted him four years prior.
“Yeah. Man, I didn’t talk to them. I was upset. Man, I was upset. Kansas (City), you know, that’s like my first love,” Sneed explained on the August 23 episode. “So many ways, it showed me how to be a champion. Gave me two rings. And, you know, it’s just (that) I was bitter, you know, I was angry because I wanted to stay. And that environment around everybody I was used to. But, you know, it’s God’s plan.”
L’Jarius Sneed Was a Catalyst for Chiefs’ Super Bowl
Sneed’s bitterness stems from a very successful tenure with the Chiefs. The now 27-year-old CB entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick for the Chiefs in 2020 and developed from a part-time player his rookie year into the lock-down corner that he is today.
During the 2023 season, Sneed was tasked with shadowing some of the NFL’s best receivers and succeeded in doing so. He kept Tyreek Hill (8-62 in Week 9, 5-62-1 in the AFC Wild-Card Round), Justin Jefferson (3-28 in Week 5), A.J. Brown (1-8 in Week 10), and Brandon Aiyuk (3-49 in the 2024 Super Bowl) in check during their respective matchups. It was arguably the best season-long performance by a CB in the NFL last season.
Despite the season-long effort, KC shipped Sneed away after he had just won back-to-back championships with the Chiefs and played a large role in them. But that’s because Sneed being traded to Tennessee had little to do with his fit in KC and everything to do with finances.
The Titans gave Sneed a four-year, $76.4 million contract which included $44 million fully guaranteed after they traded for him on March 29. That’s a contract that was too large for the Chiefs to handle, as they had just given All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones a $158.7 million contract in September and also had center Creed Humphrey, right guard Trey Smith, and linebacker Nick Bolton, among other prominent players, on expiring contracts at that time (since then KC has made Humphrey the highest-paid center in NFL history with a $72 million contract).
The Chiefs, who have a strong recent history of developing young cornerbacks, had to move on from Sneed because they couldn’t afford him. So, he shouldn’t take it too personally unless he was willing to give them a sizable discount.
X Users Reacted to L’Jarius Sneed’s Interview
Users on X — formerly Twitter — reacted to Sneed’s appearance on “The Pivot.”
“I’m glad you seen it was just business because the KC Chiefs fans didn’t want to see you go either,” one person wrote. “We know it’s all about money and winning games. KC Chiefs have one of the best teams around along w/coaches and owners. Who said you can’t come back?”
“I wish you the best @jay__sneed,” another person wrote. “It hurts to see you leave but the CAP tied [Brett Veach]’s hands.”
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