Arrowhead Pride
On Monday afternoon, reports of the Kansas City Chiefs’ reunion with cornerback L’Jarius Sneed rolled in after news of a visit with his former team was reported last week.
It has been three years since Sneed was the shutdown cornerback in Kansas City, a role that led to the 2024 offseason trade that sent him to the Tennessee Titans for a third-round pick. Since that move, both parties have failed to meet the high expectations each has earned: Sneed has played just 12 games in two seasons, while the Chiefs fizzled out with a losing record in 2025 after being blown out in Super Bowl LIX.
Will this move provide a spark for both sides that is big enough to get the team back to the top of the NFL? Here are four takeaways from the signing that point towards that conclusion.
Sneed will add to a room that was headlined by young playmakers in rookie Mansoor Delane and Nohl Williams, with former top-60 pick Kristian Fulton rounding out a group that has a lot of upside regardless of the unit’s current experience.
Sneed fills in for any of the “veteran experience” that the position was missing as a whole. After years as a versatile Nickel for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, Sneed transitioned to more of a full-time role on the outside and became one of the league’s hardest coverage players to get open against by the end of the 2023 season.
Any of his previous experience with the Chiefs, both inside and outside, gives the defense a reliable presence in a secondary that went through significant change this offseason. If the duo of young, playmaking cornerbacks is ready for the challenge on the outside right away, Sneed could be a complementary piece in the slot — or if he needs to fill in on the outside, there are still a handful of options that can fill the Nickel role.
With the newfound depth, there is a possibility that the room as a whole performs well enough for one of the four cornerbacks capable of “starting” to be dealt. Fulton fits the bill if Sneed comes back as a dependable playmaker and the younger players behind the experienced ones develop as we’ve seen in the past under defensive backs coach Dave Merritt.
By the time the 2026 regular season arrives, there’s a chance general manager Brett Veach finds a trade partner, one who needs a cornerback to start and has a pass rusher it is willing to expend.
It’s important to have cornerback depth, but the Chiefs may have to weigh the position’s depth against the talent available up front to create pressure. Fulton does feel like the only real option to be traded, and it could be tough with a $13 million cap hit in 2026 and an $8 million dead cap, according to Spotrac.
