It appears that L’Jarius Sneed, a highly valued cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs, will be joining the AFC South after all.
Other than the fact that it won’t happen to the Indianapolis Colts very soon.
He is now expected to play for the Tennessee Titans, the Colts’ divisional foe, for four years at a cost of $76 million, with a staggering $55 million guaranteed. This news comes a week after it was announced that “Sneed to the Colts was being finalized,” despite contradictory reports.
This four-year, $76 million deal is identical to the one just signed by Jaylon Johnson of the Chicago Bears; nevertheless, Sneed was not selected to the NFL 2nd Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl in 2023.
He also had problems with his knees.
Sneed’s guaranteed $55 million is $10.5 million higher than the previous NFL best for a cornerback, set in 2022 by the Cleveland Browns’ Denzel Ward, who received $44.5 million guaranteed on a mega-contract.
Yes, it was obviously an overpay by the Titans.
That is beyond dispute.
The Titans are also giving Kansas City a 2025 third round pick and a 2024 seventh round pick in exchange for Sneed.
Sneed’s trade request was allegedly considered by the Colts, albeit likely at a guaranteed monetary number significantly less than what Sneed and the Titans ultimately settled on on Friday night.
But being intelligent and rational doesn’t guarantee you a spot among the best players in free agency.
Though they didn’t overpay and stayed to their valuation figures, the Colts can find some comfort in the fact that they didn’t end up with the player—and he ends up with an AFC South rival, potentially adding salt to injury.
The Colts’ offseason isn’t quite finished, though, and there is undoubtedly still a lot of work to be done, especially in their starting secondary, which includes both cornerback and safety.
If long-term solutions are needed to cover some of those gaps, the early 2024 NFL Draft is always an option, but without slot receiver Kenny Moore II, the secondary remains extremely inexperienced and youthful.
The ideal option is still to have a seasoned cornerback or safety with starting experience, but we’ll have to wait and see what general manager Chris Ballard and the Colts can come up with.
There are still plenty of seasoned alternatives available in the free agent safety market.
But you have to consider the Colts’ full offseason’s worth of decisions, so you can’t analyze each free agency acquisition—or lack thereof—in isolation.
That offseason isn’t finished yet, despite the fact that the secondary still needs a lot of work.
