L'Jarius Sneed of the Kansas City Chiefs poses for a portrait with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after ... [+]
Confirming what had been rumored, the Kansas City Chiefs officially placed the nonexclusive franchise tag on lockdown cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.
ESPN had previously reported the defending Super Bowl champions had told Sneed’s representatives that they were preparing to place the tag on him and were open to consummating a trade if terms couldn’t be reached.
With Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET being the deadline for teams to use the franchise tag on pending free agents, the Chiefs made it official on Monday afternoon.
The nonexclusive tag allows Sneed to talk to other teams, who then potentially could work out a trade with the Chiefs.
For cornerbacks the franchise tag is set at $19.8 million.
The 2023 season represented the last year of Sneed’s four-year, $3.9 million rookie deal. Instead of letting the contract year distract him, Sneed shrugged it aside.
“The money’s going to come.” Sneed said during the week of Super Bowl LVIII, “just coming to work every day, just putting the work in.”
The 2023 season was the hardworking Sneed’s best season.
Formerly the Chiefs’ nickel cornerback, Sneed became the Chiefs’ shutdown cornerback, regularly following the opposing offense’s No. 1 wide receiver.
His aggressive style and 6-0, 192-pound frame was a perfect match for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s pressing, man coverage scheme.
During the regular season, the 27-year-old Sneed regularly shut down the opposition. His victims included Minnesota Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson, who was held to three catches for 28 yards, and the NFL’s leading receiver, Tyreek Hill, who was limited to 62 yards — twice.
He didn’t allow a touchdown catch as the nearest defender in coverage all season until the Chiefs’ divisional round playoff win against the Buffalo Bills when he surrendered a 13-yard touchdown to wide receiver Khalil Shakir.
The following week in the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens, he momentarily shifted to safety, a position he played in college at Louisiana Tech.
And on that play, he was beat for the longest play — a 54-yard catch by rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers — of the game.
But four plays later — and on the first play of the fourth quarter and with the Ravens poised to cut the deficit to three — Sneed more than made amends when he punched the ball out after Flowers’ eight-yard reception.
It was the game-changing play that demonstrated his value to the team.
“Sneed had an All-Pro year,” Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones said, “should’ve been an All-Pro.”
Considered the best players on the Super Bowl-winning defense, Jones and Sneed are both free agents.
And by using the franchise tag on Sneed, it obviously means the Chiefs can’t tag Jones as well.
But retaining both stars remain a priority.
“Our goal is to try to get both of those players done and then work down the rest of our roster,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said at the NFL Combine. “[We] want to do what we can to try to keep both of those players. That’s going to be our goal and intent. Hopefully, we’re able to figure something out, but every free agency is different, unique and crazy.”
