Third-year cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has a chance to take the Chiefs’ CB1 spot this season with former starter Chavarious Ward leaving in free agency. Sneed is currently in Dallas, Texas, training for the upcoming 2022 NFL season but took some time to speak with the crew on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Saturday.
Sneed has been in the league for only two seasons and has already been a part of plenty of meaningful football games with the Chiefs since coming out of Louisiana Tech. That includes two AFC Championship games and a Super Bowl during his rookie season.
To kick things off, Sneed was asked what it was like to transition from a smaller school to the NFL. Sneed said it just wasn’t difficult at all.
“It wasn’t that hard,” he said. “I’m good at adjusting to the environment that I’m around, so it wasn’t hard as I got in there. I just needed to get around the right guys.”
Sneed’s former teammate and star receiver, Tyreek Hill, was traded to Miami in one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the offseason thus far. Sneed was asked to tell fans why the Chiefs are still a championship contender even without one of the most dynamic wideouts in the league.
“You know that Tyreek and Patrick Mahomes connection was kind of special,” he said with a smile. “But as he left, I know [head coach] Andy Reid has something up his sleeve, [and] I know that Patrick Mahomes and the guys [the Chiefs] bring in are going to get together and build their empire.”
In order to make it back to the AFC Championship and compete for another Super Bowl, the Chiefs will have a much tougher AFC conference to go up against in 2022, thanks to free agency, and it begins in Kansas City’s own AFC West division, where the Chiefs reign as the six-time champs.
The GMF crew mentioned to Sneed how Chargers QB Justin Herbert is getting better, former Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson is now in Denver, and the Raiders have made some noise by adding pass rusher Chandler Jones and wide receiver Davante Adams.
As teams in the AFC continue to build and get better, Sneed was asked what the Chiefs’ defense needs to do to help Kansas City stay at the top of their conference.
“It starts with [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo],” he began. “The mentality that we have is it’s not going to change. They can keep building, and we are going to keep doing what we do on our end, and we’re not worried about the other side,” he explained.
Before moving over to the defensive side of the ball as a defensive back in college, Sneed played wide receiver in high school and was asked what receiver skills he still utilizes for playing defense for the Chiefs. Sneed summed his answer up in two words.
“Ball skills,” he said.
Sneed was drafted by the Chiefs in the fourth round of the 2020 draft and has become a productive member of the secondary. Sneed has played in 30 games through two seasons, including six postseason matchups, and has racked up 158 total tackles and six interceptions.
