After spending the first four years of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed will be suiting up for the Tennessee Titans in 2024. A fourth-round pick in 2020 NFL Draft, the Louisiana Tech product overcame his unremarkable draft capital to become a key contributor on two Super Bowl teams. The cornerback was supposed to break the bank on the open market, but Kansas City used the franchise tag to keep him from hitting free agency.
With his rights fully secured, the Chiefs began shopping L’Jarius Sneed and eventually agreed to trade him to the Tennessee Titans for a 2025 third-round pick. While the Titans aren’t nearly as good as the Chiefs, they have notably improved the roster over the past month. While talking up the talent on his new team, the $76 million man indirectly fired a few shots at his previous organization.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, L’Jarius Sneed spoke about how he thinks he can improve with the Titans, and inadvertently threw some shade at his old teammates.
“To get out there and work with them elite wide receivers, I never had two elite guys like them, going up against them every day. I had great players, but them two guys, household names, they stick out. I can’t wait to get to work with those guys. I know they’re gonna make me better in practice, and I can’t wait to pick both of their brains on how to get better. What they see. What my weakness is from their eyes and not from other guys I’ve been playing with for four years. I want new guys looking from the outside in.”
L’Jarius Sneed Puts Down Chiefs While Praising Titans
The two “elite guys” Sneed refers to are DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley. At his best, Hopkins was one of the best players in the game and easily worthy of the “elite” label. However, the three-time All-Pro is now entering his age-32 season, and while he’s still a good player, he’s not the unstoppable force he once was. Calvin Ridley, meanwhile, is coming off a 1,000-yard season but is nobody’s definition of elite. He’s a good player, but he doesn’t keep opposing defensive coordinators up at night.
While elite might be a generous term, it is worth noting that the Titans still have a better wide receiver duo than the Chiefs ever did while L’Jarius Sneed was there. Even though they won the Super Bowl in each of the past two seasons, Kansas City’s wide receivers have been something of a weak link since the Tyreek Hill trade. Even when Hill was in town, the Chiefs never had a great second option at receiver.
In 2020, L’Jarius Sneed practiced against the great Tyreek Hill and the not-nearly-as-great Sammy Wakins. While the former first-round pick was capable of one or two breakout performances a year, by and large the receiver was nothing special during his Kansas City tenure. That being said, he was better than the 2021 combination of Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson. The present-day versions of Hopkins and Ridley don’t come close to matching prime Tyreek Hill, but they’re both considerably better than the Chiefs second-best receiver during the L’Jarius Sneed Era.
Main Photo: Denny Simmons – USA Today Sports
