Chiefs & Titans Grades For The L’Jarius Sneed Trade

While the two sides are still crossing the Ts and dotting the Is, all indications are the Chiefs and Titans will soon finalize a trade sending CB L’Jarius Sneed to Tennessee in exchange for draft picks, with Sneed getting a brand-new four-year, $76 million contract to reward his career season. 

The full details of the deal as reported so far: 

• Chiefs get: 2024 7th (No. 227), 2025 3rd
• Titans get: Sneed, 2024 7th (No. 252)

After weeks of reports that the Chiefs were looking for a second-round pick in exchange for Sneed, that return understandably looks underwhelming. The early reaction seemed to lean that way, with the Titans receiving plaudits for the deal while the Chiefs generated raised eyebrows. If Kansas City wasn’t the two-time defending champion, the criticism likely would have been more pointed. 

However, I think this deal is an underrated win for the Chiefs and an underrated risk for the Titans. Let’s dive into why, with letter grades for each 

Chiefs: B+

To back up a bit and set the stage: the Chiefs entered March knowing in all likelihood Sneed would be playing elsewhere, even though they placed the franchise tag on him. Kansas City tagged Sneed as a placeholder to work out a trade, not an extension, to try and capitalize on the demand for quality cornerback play league-wide that outweighed the supply. The best options available in free agency were aging veterans like Kendall Fuller, Chidobe Awuzie, Stephon Gilmore and Xavien Howard, and the last two remain unsigned. 

Awuzie got a three-year, $36 million deal — also from the Titans. A three-year, $17 million deal for Sean Murphy-Bunting (Cardinals) and a three-year, $22.5 million deal for CB Darious Williams (Rams) were the other biggest non-extensions handed out. Some cornerback-needy teams turned to the trade market, with the Lions sending the Buccaneers a third-round pick as a part of a swap for Carlton Davis. 

So the Chiefs didn’t misjudge the market completely by tagging Sneed, and the end result is proof. While the Chiefs were hoping for a second given the lack of quality corners and Sneed’s elite 2023 performance, a third was always a more realistic outcome given an acquiring team had to pay Sneed a top-level contract on top of a valuable draft pick. And while cornerback has traditionally been seen as a premium position, the market has stalled out in recent years. 

This return for the Chiefs looks underwhelming at first blush, with plenty of fans and analysts pointing out it’s only marginally better than if the team had let Sneed leave, either this year or next, and qualified for a third-round compensatory pick. The compensatory formula likely provided a framework for the two sides to negotiate.

However, some key differences make this a win for Kansas City. By trading Sneed now, the Chiefs lock in a pick without worrying about canceling it out with a free-agent addition. That’s notable because one of the criticisms of the move is they tied up $19.8 million in cap space on the tag for Sneed during the first wave of free agency. But that’s money they wouldn’t have been able to use anyway without risking canceling out the compensatory pick. 

While the formula is less of a mystery than it has been in the past and something sharp teams have a strong grasp on, the actual formula is known only by the NFL management council. All compensatory pick projections — even the best ones — have a margin for error. The Bills found that out this year when they were awarded a fourth-round pick instead of a third for losing LB Tremaine Edmunds last year. The Chiefs probably would have gotten a third for Sneed if he had signed his current contract or a similar one in free agency, but it would not have been a lock. 

The other argument against this trade is whether the Chiefs would have been better off keeping Sneed on the roster rather than letting him go for a “modest” return. That’s a fair question to ask but for better or worse — and mostly for better — this has been the Chiefs’ strategy. They have not paid cornerbacks, even good ones. They allowed Charvarius Ward to walk in free agency, and before that, it was guys like Kendall Fuller, Steven Nelson and Marcus Peters. 

Part of the reason is the Chiefs are good at finding quality cornerbacks without spending significant resources. Ward was acquired in a preseason swap with the Cowboys for OL Parker Ehinger. Sneed was a fourth-round pick. Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams were key rotational players last year who will be expected to step into bigger roles in 2024, and the Chiefs drafted them in the seventh and fourth rounds respectively. 

It’s also a part of a bigger philosophical approach. The Chiefs don’t pay top-market contracts unless they absolutely have to. Trading WR Tyreek Hill is the most notable example, but there are plenty of other signings they either did or didn’t make solely on whether or not it was a team-friendly deal. There have been just three exceptions so far: 

1. Paying up for QB Patrick Mahomes. Even then, the Chiefs secured a favorable 10-year length as opposed to a four-year term that would have allowed Mahomes to maximize his contractual leverage. 
2. Extending DT Chris Jones. That took an in-season holdout and went right up until the start of free agency this year before Kansas City relented. 
3. Paying for offensive line help. The Chiefs have had their limits here, like not extending LT Orlando Brown Jr. last year, but they’ve been more willing to spend on Mahomes’ protection than other position groups, with contracts for G Joe Thuney and RT Jawaan Taylor coming in at or near the top of the market. 

In the end, this became a simple decision for the Chiefs. They were always unlikely to retain Sneed, as they have proven they can cycle through cornerbacks with little dropoff. They saw an opportunity to squeeze a little more value out of him, however, and took it. The third-round pick and $19.8 million in cash are resources that will be redirected to other areas of the roster that need help, and it’s a pick the Chiefs didn’t have before even if it’s not as high as they initially were hoping. Overall, this has to be viewed positively. 

Titans: B-

The Titans have had one of the splashiest offseasons of any team so far, loading up the roster with talent in free agency. They handed out a plethora of big deals, including: 

• WR Calvin Ridley, four years $92M
• LB Kenneth Murray, two years $15.5M
• CB Chidobe Awuzie, three years $36M
• C Lloyd Cushenberry, four years $50M
• RB Tony Pollard, three years $21.75M

The Sneed acquisition is another blockbuster deal, and the Titans had plenty of cap space to accommodate the new contract. Tennessee entered free agency with around $70 million in cap space, more than 30 other teams. In some ways, Tennessee isn’t acting like a rebuilding team even coming off a six-win season in 2023 with a first-year head coach taking over. 

I’m sure on some level, there are people in the Titans’ building who would like nothing more than to win and win big in the first year after firing former HC Mike Vrabel — a move that was panned nearly universally across the league. That would validate that owner Amy Adams Strunk and GM Ran Carthon do indeed know what they’re doing.

Realistically though, the Titans needed an infusion of talent after a few years of decline. While the team is still rebuilding, it’s important to put a positive environment around QB Will Levis to properly evaluate his standing for the future. That’s my take on how the Titans are thinking about this offseason.

However, they are taking real risks by swinging this hard. Free agency can provide a short-term boost but teams have to draft well to sustain success. By forking over a third-round pick in addition to the massive contract for Sneed, the Titans are taking away from their future resources to build around Levis or another quarterback. Tennessee obviously thinks adding a player like Sneed is worth the risk. But what if it doesn’t pan out? 

Sneed was unequivocally outstanding in 2023. He set a career-high with 14 pass deflections and added two interceptions to bring his career total to 10 in four seasons. Earlier in his career, he played much more often in the slot and was an effective blitzer from that position. In 2023, Sneed was predominantly an outside cornerback, but that versatility is a massive selling point. Kansas City would have him follow opposing No. 1 receivers across the formation and Sneed excelled at it. He went viral for jamming his former teammate Hill into the turf when the Chiefs played the Dolphins and he shut down players like Bills WR Stefon Diggs in other games. 

That was last year, though. There’s a reason for the cliche that the NFL stands for “not for long,” and that’s especially true at cornerback. It’s one of the hardest positions to play on the field, especially with the rules leaning toward the offense. Cornerbacks have to be both great athletes and outstanding technicians. When they make a mistake, it’s usually a big play for the offense, so a short memory is paramount. Because a cornerback’s athleticism is so critical to his performance, it’s harder to mask when a player loses even a half step, whether from age or injury. 

Factor in the natural ebb and flow of the league from year to year with changing schemes and whatnot, and cornerback becomes one of the most volatile positions to predict in any given season. Jets CB Sauce Gardner picked off two passes and knocked down 20 more in a stellar rookie season. Last year, he had no interceptions and his PD total fell by nearly 50 percent. Notable cornerbacks like Saints CB Marshon Lattimore, Browns CB Denzel Ward, Packers CB Jaire Alexander and Eagles CB Darius Slay have all had a down year or two at various points in their career. 

The point is; for as good as Sneed was last year, the Titans are taking a risk by betting he’ll continue to be just as productive. At 27, Sneed should still have a few years left of his prime, but he had a knee injury he was managing throughout last season that was flagged as a potential concern in the past few weeks as another reason the Chiefs didn’t have as robust a market as expected. Sneed played 16 games and the whole postseason, so he and the team managed it well. But it’s something to be aware of. 

This hits on a bigger league-wide trend. Cornerback has traditionally been viewed as one of the premium positions, more important than anything outside of quarterback, pass rusher and left tackle. But if we take cash spending as evidence of what the NFL values, cornerback drops in the pecking order. Salaries for cornerbacks have not kept up with the growth in the cap. 

I need to try to separate RT and LT pic.twitter.com/21QepICT14

— TexansCap (@TexansCap) March 8, 2024

It’s not that good cornerbacks aren’t valued anymore, it’s that teams aren’t confident in their ability to predict which cornerbacks will be good from year to year. That makes a shotgun approach more effective and less risky than putting a bunch of eggs into one basket — like the Titans just did with Sneed. 

Tennessee still added the best player available at one of their biggest positions of need, so I would stop short of calling this a bad move. If Levis takes a jump from his rookie season and Callahan proves himself as a first-year coach, the Titans could be relevant quicker than most anyone expects. There’s just some downside to this move that needs to be put into perspective.