3 Most Likely L'Jarius Sneed Trade Destinations
By Joe Summers
3. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals have plenty of cap space and need to make a splash in Jonathan Gannon's second season at the helm. Kyler Murray is healthy now, but Arizona's defense ranked 29th last year in opponent yards per pass play (7.1). Kansas City ranked third at 5.5 and Sneed was a large reason why.
Antonio Hamilton and Starling Thomas played the most snaps at cornerback for the Cardinals in 2023. With all due respect to those two, neither is close to the caliber of player that Sneed is. Gannon needs to establish an identity defensively, so bringing the 27-year-old in on a big deal makes a lot of sense.
Given the Cardinals play in the NFC South, they have to face talented receivers like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockette twice a year each. Sneed is one of the NFL's true lockdown corners, capable of shadowing opposing top receivers as he proved this season.
L'Jarius Sneed aligned across from Stefon Diggs on 23 of his 35 routes (65.7%), limiting him to 1 reception for 3 yards on 5 targets (4 tight windows).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 11, 2023
Sneed has played shadow coverage (over 65% of routes) six times this season, the most in the NFL.#KCvsBUF | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/awIuLS3u67
From a trade compensation perspective, Arizona has a lot of ammo to work with. The Cardinals have two first-round picks, an early second and three third-rounders, all of which could be used to manufacture a deal.
It's expected that Kansas City prefers draft picks to players in a potential trade, and there may be no team better suited to capitalize on that desire than Arizona.
As a cherry on top, we already know Sneed can rock the red uniforms too. It'll hurt to see him go if it comes to that, but I'm hopeful he lands in a fruitful situation in which he can shine.
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