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L’Jarius Sneed is heading back to Kansas City. Multiple reports confirm the Chiefs have agreed to a deal with the cornerback, reuniting him with the franchise where he spent his first four NFL seasons.
It’s a homecoming that makes sense on paper – even if the past two years haven’t been kind to Sneed.
Kansas City drafted him in the fourth round back in 2020, and he didn’t take long to earn a starting spot. By 2021 he was a full-time starter, and he stayed there through the 2023 season – playing a real role on the Chiefs teams that beat the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers in back-to-back Super Bowls. Those four seasons in Kansas City produced 10 interceptions and 40 passes defended – the kind of numbers that get you paid.
And paid he was. The Chiefs traded him to the Tennessee Titans ahead of the 2024 season – getting a third-round pick and a seventh-round pick swap in return – and Sneed signed a four-year, $76 million deal with $51.5 million guaranteed.
Tennessee didn’t go to plan.
Knee and quad injuries kept him to just 12 games across two seasons with the Titans. Zero interceptions. Three passes defended. The Titans cut him in March, clearing $11.4 million in cap space in the process, and Sneed hit free agency looking for a fresh start.
Now, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he’s getting one – on a one-year deal worth up to $5 million.
The timing works for the Chiefs too. Kansas City traded All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams this offseason – receiving four draft picks in return, including a 2026 pick they used to select defensive tackle Peter Woods at No. 29. Losing McDuffie, a two-time All-Pro, leaves a real hole in the secondary.
Kansas City already moved to address it in April, trading up to pick cornerback Mansoor Delane out of LSU at No. 6. The hope is that Delane steps in as a Day 1 starter. Sneed, now 29, gives them another option with Super Bowl experience – and a familiarity with what it takes to win in Kansas City.
Whether his body holds up is the question. But for a Chiefs team still built to compete, bringing back a corner who knows the system and has two rings from his time there is a low-risk move with real upside.
