I’m simultaneously shocked by...and applaud...the Chiefs decision to NOT pay L’Jarius Sneed a big contract extension, and rather trade him.
I’m shocked...because most every time an NFL team (with the same management staff in place for years) is faced with a tough decision like this, like whether to give one of ‘their own’ players a massive contract extension after a great season and a good/great first 4 years, like Sneed has had with KC, the team usually caves and feels like ‘this is THEIR guy’ and they bicker back and forth but then they eventually give the star their massive deal.
I’m thinking of all the running backs who holdout in the summer, then magically get their deal late August leading into the season...Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon (before this offseason)...or players who act like total asses to get early deals done like Deebo or Kyler as examples. Teams almost always cave. It takes a lot of ____ for management to let a star walk or trade them away...because if they go on to star for their new team, while you suffer to replace them and don’t win games/divisions, then you look like a fool. An example is the Titans trading A.J. Brown.
I figured the Chiefs would just pinch their nose and sign Sneed so as not to disrupt their ‘Dynasty’ in progress...that they’d just go for the three-peat with THEIR guys.
If they really wanted to, the Chiefs could’ve found a way to structure Sneed for a return deal. They chose not to.
I applaud the Chiefs for making this move because it’s a tough decision and they took the tougher way – evaluating that the upside or current of Sneed wasn’t worth the payout...trusting that between their internal depth at corner AND all the nice CBs there are available in this year’s draft, there are solutions otherwise...and the Chiefs can also land a veteran, mercenary corner at the trade deadline or in August if there is any concern/issue...given all the factors, the Chiefs bet on themselves – and that makes all the sense in the world.
PLUS, the Chiefs are the two-time defending champs...they have the gravitas to do whatever they want, and no one should complain...although they will...Week 1, the first time Sneed’s replacement gives up a TD catch, the whining will begin...but everyone is always whining about football things with their favorite team, etc., so that’s no reason to manage a business worrying about that – but, in the NFL, it’s usually is the reason teams make the moves they do...to try and appease the unappeasable fans.
You think KC management (or fans) are missing Tyreek Hill right now?
Drilling down on this a little more... We’re all aware this is an amazing draft for wide receivers, right? So strong, so deep. Well...right along with the surge of WRs from college (which is going to change the entire landscape of how we feel about, how NFL teams should manage and pay WRs over the next 1-2-3 years) there’s a similar surge in cornerback prospects (which CBs are just former WRs who couldn’t catch, so it stands to reason that with the WR surge in talent, there is a CB surge too). This CB class maybe doesn’t have the depth of elite prospects, but it has a ton of good and promising and upside and useful prospects. KC may replace Sneed with a 2nd/3rd-round pick corner, and it only cost them a fraction of the payroll.
Also, I have thought for the past year+ that their backup CB Joshua Williams is potentially their best cover corner of all their guys. He’s a 2022 rookie...6’3”/195 with 4.53 speed and 6.95 three-cone and a 1.50 10-yard split...AND in his first two years of play he’s held opposing receivers to 51.9% Completion Percentage against which is high end.
I’ve mentioned it several times the past year+ -- the Chiefs secret strength is their depth of talent on defense. They have drafted so well the past 2-3 years and signed so many cheap, smart free agents (Like Drue Tranquill and Mike Edwards last year), I don’t think they feel Sneed is irreplaceable by them – they might believe they already had his replacement, even better, on the roster already (Joshua Williams). But can also draft a Max Melton or one of several 2nd/3rd-round CB gems...or draft a couple of them and hope one comes through.
On paper, this is a setback for KC...today, but by August 2024 or by Week 4 or Week 10...KC may be better than they were last year, on defense, and doing so at a better payroll structure. It would have been nice to keep Sneed, but he’s not irreplaceable...just like when they let Charvarius Ward walk in free agency last year. I’m not changing my projections on the KC DST much at all from this move. The Titans DST will get a nice little bump because Sneed is talented (so was J.C. Jackson when LAC signed him to a zillion dollar deal...you never know what the money will do to players).
This is the way NFL teams should be managed...AND with back-to-back Super Bowl trophies, KC has ‘goodwill’ to cash in to not be questioned on it right now...and with the depth of talent they have as well.
