Titans Acquire Two-time Super Bowl Champion L’Jarius Sneed
Nashville, Tenn. (PSF) — The Tennessee Titans became the second team this NFL offseason to make a big splash by acquiring a franchise-tagged player.
On Friday night, ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that the Titans were acquiring the star cornerback from the Chiefs, in exchange for a 2025 3rd-round pick and a 2024 7th-round pick swap. Sneed will also sign a new contract with the Titans worth $76 million for 4 years. The Chiefs will free $19.8 million for their salary cap with this move.
Sneed will join a revamped Titans secondary alongside former Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, who signed a 3-year, $36 million deal with the Titans last week, and will be coached by new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and secondary coach Steve Jackson.
Sneed is a tremendous boost to a Titans defense that was strong against the run, but quite poor against the pass. The Titans’ pass defense in 2023 was:
29th in the NFL with a 67.78 Opponent Completion Percentage
23rd in the NFL with 6.8 Opponent Yards/Pass
18th in the NFL with 227.4 Opponent Pass Yards per game
27th in the NFL with a 96.4 Opponent Average Passer Rating
Last in the NFL with 6 total interceptions
The fit was quite obvious for Sneed, and a significant addition to their cornerback room was necessary. Although the Titans finished last in the AFC South in 2023 at 6-11, the team views Quarterback Will Levis as a franchise quarterback and as a candidate to take another step forward in 2024. Aggressive moves such as this, to bolster Levis’s supporting cast and lighten the load off his shoulders on the path to winning games makes sense for a team that feels that they’ve found their franchise guy. Regardless of their view on Levis though, the Titans’ secondary in 2023 was their most glaring area of improvement, and the addition of Sneed will do wonders for addressing it.
Sneed, 27, was a 4th-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 out of Louisiana Tech. He has started 54 games in the past 4 years and recorded 303 combined tackles, 10 interceptions, 40 passes defended, 4 forced fumbles, and 6.5 sacks for the duration of his career.
With the Chiefs being a perennial playoff team from the moment they drafted him, Sneed already has 13 games of playoff experience under his belt, including 2 Super Bowl championships. In those 13 playoff games, he has recorded 75 combined tackles, 1 interception, 7 passes defended, and most recently, a critical forced fumble in the 2023 AFC Championship game that swung the tide in Kansas City’s favor:
Sneed’s 2023 season may have been his best season in terms of prowess in coverage. He recorded 2 interceptions and a career-high 14 passes defended, while also allowing a career-best and staggering 51.0 completion percentage when targeted. Most notably, he allowed 0 passing touchdowns as the nearest defender the entire regular season, didn’t allow a TD until the AFC Divisional Round, and allowed just 478 yards total in the 16 regular season games he started.
He was arguably the biggest snub from the First and Second All-Pro seasons. Sneed was as elite as they come in coverage all year while being a strong tackler as well, recording 78 tackles and missing 7.1% of his tackles, the second-lowest rate of his career.
He will add a lockdown presence for the Titans in a division featuring Wide Receivers such as Nico Collins, Michael PIttman Jr., Tank Dell, and Gabe Davis, and stays in the AFC where stars such as Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Amari Cooper, Garrett Wilson, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins play, as well as budding stars such as Zay Flowers, Josh Downs, Tank Dell, Rashee Rice, and more play.
The Titans will look to rebound from their disappointing 2023 season under new Head Coach Brian Callahan, and adding Sneed will be a big step forward towards achieving that goal.
