MARCH 26: Sneed will end up with a bit more on his second contract, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport noting it will be a $76.4MM deal for the former Chiefs standout. The $19.1MM AAV will place Sneed sixth among cornerbacks. A $20MM signing bonus will comprise part of Sneed’s guarantee package; the Titans can spread that figure over the life of the contract.
MARCH 22: Despite recent reports that a previous trade agreement fell through after the Titans were unable to reach an extension agreement for Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the deal will come to pass.
Tennessee is finalizing a trade that will send Kansas City a 2025 third-round pick and will swap the teams’ seventh-round picks in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft in order to acquire the 27-year-old defender. 
The Chiefs had applied the franchise tag to Sneed in order to avoid him hitting unrestricted free agency following the expiration of his rookie deal. Despite the move to keep him under contract, Kansas City didn’t display much of a desire to keep Sneed on the roster in 2024. The team is extremely familiar with the tag-and-trade maneuver having used it to send Dee Ford to San Francisco and acquiring Frank Clark from Seattle under similar circumstances.
Kansas City was unwilling to meet the salary desires that Sneed had for an extension, so it made it clear to the rest of the league that its star cornerback was available for the right price. The Vikings, Colts, Patriots, Lions, Falcons, Jaguars, and Dolphins were all reported as teams to show an initial interest, though several sought other options or simply opted to cease communication with the Chiefs about a deal.
Tennessee took advantage of having the third-most salary cap space in the league, signing Sneed to what Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report reports will be a four-year, $76MM extension. If those terms are correct, his new deal would match recently extended Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson‘s in length and overall value. The main difference that Schultz gives us is that while Johnson’s deal included $51.4MM of guarantees, Sneed’s will have $55MM of guaranteed money.
The Titans were reportedly the only team that got close enough, reaching a point at which a deal was essentially ready to go last week, but without being able to reach an agreement on an extended contract from Sneed, the deal seemingly fell through. Following their failed efforts to acquire Sneed, the Titans pivoted, signing free agent cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and using the money set aside for a Sneed extension to sign wide receiver Calvin Ridley.
Sneed comes to Tennessee as the obvious new starter alongside Roger McCreary and Awuzie, replacing Sean Murphy-Bunting, who signed a three-year, $25.5MM deal that sent him to Arizona. The Titans also lost their other outside cornerback when Kristian Fulton signed a one-year contract with the Chargers. Sneed and Awuzie should take over roles as the main outside corners, allowing McCreary to continue to excel in the slot.
As for the Chiefs, while they’ll certainly miss having a playmaker like Sneed in their secondary, they have to feel pretty good about their position moving forward. Once the trade goes through, the totality of Sneed’s $19.8MM franchise tag salary will come of their salary cap, granting much needed cap space to a team that ranked 28th in the NFL before the deal.
As for the draft capital return, in addition to the seventh-round swap, the team will be gauging the success of their trade on how poorly Tennessee performs in 2024. The 2025 third-rounder will obviously come before the late-third-round compensatory pick that Sneed was likely to return as an unrestricted free agent. If the Titans have a poor showing next season, though, they could return an early-third-round pick as a result of today’s deal.
Without Sneed, Kansas City still has to feel pretty good about its talent at cornerback. Three third-year players will return to lead the position room in 2024. In the 2022 NFL Draft, the Chiefs selected Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie in the first round, Fayetteville State cornerback Joshua Williams in the fourth round, and Washington State cornerback Jaylen Watson in the seventh. Today, it views all three as starting-caliber players in their third year.
Specializing in the slot, McDuffie ranked as Pro Football Focus’ fourth-best cornerback in the NFL in 2023. Williams wasn’t far behind as the 26th-best, and Watson graded out at 46th. Including those three and Sneed, the team touts an impressive record evaluating draft-eligible cornerbacks. If they feel the need to add bodies to the room, look to the draft as the likely source of their next great cornerback.
not a terrible haul . hope they make good use of the picks
Thought they may get more, but if Titans don’t do well that can basically be top 5 3rd round pick.
Titans definitely going to be more than a bottom 5 team with this much improved roster baring any major injuries yall got fleeced
Not a KC fan.
But they did this with Dee Ford and Frank Clark. Both didn’t do well on their new teams.
Sneed maybe good outside of Spags or he maybe a JC Jackson and struggles.
Levis I am unsure about. I don’t see them fighting for a playoff spot, but wouldn’t be surprised if they are a bottom 5 team.
When a deal wasn’t going to be made.. The Chiefs just wanted their comp pick, they could have probably got more of if they really wanted to. But they make sure Sneeds taking care of.. That’s the way Andy Reid rolls, plus they wanted the 19M to spend on free agency
This is the era of the QB – comes down to Levi’s – who wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either. Levis is closer to Ridder than he is Mahomes.
Time will tell but Titans are worst team in its own division in my opinion, and not by a little bit.
They didn’t get fleeced if they weren’t going to pay him that huge contract, they got something pretty decent without just letting him walk……..fleeced , haha
First report: previously unreported trade fell through
second report: trade is actually happening
yep, makes sense
Happy he got paid. Played at a very high level and was a major contributor for 2 rings while making less than 5 million bucks in his career. Get that bag Sneed you deserve it.
This was a Non-Restricted Tag,, That allows teams to make offers to Sneed’s agent, the agent picks out the contract w/the team of their choice. The Chiefs can either match it or the Chiefs gets two first Rd picks and the deal is done. (never happens)This is when the Chiefs can negotiate with Titans about picks.. Usually, teams announce what they are asking for.. basically what they will take instead of the the two 1st Rds. So, teams waste their time sending offers..
People need to remember Sneed was not under contract, Chiefs can’t trade or negotiate with other teams without Sneed’s approval. Plus, the Chiefs don’t play that game. Even, Tyreek (under contract) picked the team he wanted to go to. The Jets offered supposedly both more, but the Chiefs took less to be fair to Tyreek
I would like to also point out that Veach was planning to sign Dee Ford to a long term deal (that’s why they tagged him), but the Chiefs had just hired Spags and were switching to a 4-3 from pervious 3-4 defense. Spags notified Veach that Ford was too small, to play DE in his defense. That’s when Ford’s agent, the 49ers and Veach all got together.. set up the trade.
Shocked me at first seeing the headline, but pretty smart move. No intention of keeping him, so just get draft capital.
Sneed I think had a great contract year. That’s it.
How much space do the Tians have left?
Does Sneed have three more All Pro seasons in him? Or does he become a $8 million cornerback on a $20 million per year salary starting in year two?
Glad it’s not my money. At least the draft capital was minimal.