Steelers News

Steelers Named Landing Spot for Top Chiefs CB

The Pittsburgh Steelers were named a good fit for Chiefs star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.

Published

3 months ago

January 24, 2024

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed (38) gets set on defense in the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Peter Aiken)

Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has become one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks over the last two seasons, and now, he has a chance to hit free agency for a massive payday. With Chris Jones hitting free agency as well, the Chiefs could look to franchise tag Sneed, but Pro Football Focus has the Steelers has a landing spot for Sneed.

“Sneed was a fixture out wide in 2023 after lining up primarily in the slot over his first three seasons, and he held up quite well in several tough matchups,” PFF wrote. “Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo asks a lot of his cornerbacks, and Sneed is sticky in coverage, getting into receivers’ hip pockets and becoming very hard to shake with lateral movement or in the air at the catch point.

They believe he will get $17.5 million a year to come in at around three years, $52.5 million with $35 million of that guaranteed. Sneed’s a talented player who could form a solid duo with Joey Porter Jr. on the other side. That could latch Pittsburgh into having an expensive secondary, but one that teams will have to contend with for years to come. Sneed is still a potential franchise tag player for the Chiefs, too. But his tape is as good as any cornerback on the market this season, and he has continued to perform at a high level for multiple years in Kansas City.

The Steelers could immediately throw Sneed in there as a chess piece who can lock it down on the outside. He is a more athletic version of Cam Sutton, which has all the world’s benefits for the Steelers on the back-end. The signing would transform the secondary and make it one of the biggest strengths that the team has heading into the 2024 season on the defensive side of the football.