Andy Reid didn’t exactly ease Tennessee Titans fans’ nerves when he talked about L’Jarius Sneed this week.
After a disastrous two-year run in Tennessee, Sneed is back with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Reid said the cornerback looks a lot like the player Kansas City remembered. That’s the kind of update Titans fans would rather not hear after watching the team move on from a costly swing that never came close to paying off.
" Arguably one of the best corners in the league when he left here, and now that he's back healthy and going, I mean, I'd tell ya, he's playing like that right now," Reid said at a recent press conference when asked about Sneed.
That’s a pretty blunt reminder of what Tennessee thought it was getting when it traded a 2025 third-round pick to Kansas City for Sneed and then handed him a $76 million extension. Instead, the Titans got a cornerback whose time in Nashville was derailed almost immediately.
Sneed’s first season with the Titans went off the rails in Week 6, when he suffered a quad injury and eventually landed on season-ending IR. The bad news didn’t stop there. That same injury carried over into 2025, and he ended up appearing in only seven games this past season.
The injury issues were only part of the mess. Chronic knee problems and an alleged off-field situation also played a role in what became a brutal stint in Tennessee. Over two seasons, Sneed played in just 12 games for the Titans, failed to pick off a single pass, and managed only three pass breakups.
The Titans did salvage $11.4 million in cap space by releasing him, and general manager Mike Borgonzi put that money to work by reshaping the cornerback room. Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott were added in free agency this summer and are expected to start.
Now Sneed is back in a Chiefs secondary that has lost starting cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, giving him a fresh chance to reclaim the form that made him such a coveted player in the first place. If Reid is right and Sneed is already looking like that version of himself again, it will sting for Tennessee all over again.
In Other News...
Titans Roster Cuts Left One Big Mike Borgonzi Win Behind
The Titans spent the cutdown deadline churning through the back end of the roster, trimming to 53 and then immediately reshaping the group with three waiver claims and two veteran additions. To make the math work, Tennessee moved on from five players, but four of them circled right back to the practice squad, keeping some continuity in place while the front office kept taking swings to improve depth.
In the end, only one piece from that last round of roster juggling did not find a landing spot with the team. Austin Deculus was the lone player who did not return on the practice squad, leaving the Titans with one notable departure even as the rest of the maneuvering largely preserved the depth they wanted to keep around. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Get Hit With A Label Fans Will Want To Fight Back On
A recent Yahoo Sports ranking put the Titans in a bucket no fan base likes to see, labeling them among the NFLs tankers because of the uncertainty at quarterback. The classification is jarring enough on its own, especially after rookie Cam Ward showed promise while working through a difficult season and the roster around him began to take shape in a more encouraging way.
Robert Salehs new coaching staff, along with upgrades on the offensive line and additions at receiver, give Tennessee a much different look than a true tear-down team. Even if the quarterback question remains the biggest factor in how far this group can go, the setup is at least pointing toward progress, which is why this kind of label is one the Titans have every reason to push back on. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Backups Are Already Putting Week 1 Starters On Notice
The Titans are heading toward Week 1 with a few spots on offense and defense that still feel very much up for grabs, and the preseason has only sharpened that competition. Tyjae Spears, Anthony Hill Jr. and Elic Ayomanor have each made enough noise to keep the coaching staff looking twice, whether it is Spears pushing for a bigger role at running back, Hill working his way into the linebacker conversation or Ayomanor trying to climb the receiver depth chart.
For Tennessee, the intrigue is not just who is on the field first, but how quickly the backups can force the issue once the games start counting. Spears looks like the clearest threat to Tony Pollard, Hill has shown enough in preseason to put pressure on Cody Barton, and Ayomanor is giving the staff another name to consider if Calvin Ridleys job security becomes a question. None of it is settled yet, but the Titans have already shown that the right late-summer push can change the picture in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]