The Tennessee Titans chose money over loyalty this week. The team released cornerback L’Jarius Sneed just before a key financial deadline, and it did not go unnoticed around the league. A two-time Super Bowl champion made sure nobody missed what really happened here.

“They [the Titans] could’ve made this decision last week, but screwed him [Sneed] over. Think about situations like this when you complain about players taking what they EARNED,” Ravens legend Torrey Smith fired back in a reply to a post by ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter.

Sneed was set to hit his $7.5 million guaranteed salary for injury on March 16. The Titans released him just a few days before that date, saving $11.4 million in cap space and absorbing $8.1 million in dead money. 

For the Titans, this was a financially sound call. But releasing L’Jarius Sneed even one week earlier would have given him more time to find a landing spot before the free agency frenzy hit its peak. The release was always coming. The writing had been on the wall for weeks, which made the timing of it all the more frustrating for those in Sneed’s corner.

This offseason, the Titans spent big on the cornerback position. Head coach Robert Saleh spent over $113 million on the cornerback position. They added Alontae Taylor, Cor’Dale Flott, and Joshua Williams. 

With that kind of investment already locked in, Sneed’s days in Nashville were numbered the moment those signings hit the wire. Now Sneed is set to test the free agency market. 

“Titans informed Sneed’s agents, the Katz Brothers, of their decision today; Sneed now will become a free agent,” Schefter reported on March 13.

The past two seasons with the Titans have been frustrating for Sneed. He played and started just 12 games across those two years. In 2024, persistent quad injuries slowed him down and kept him off the field. 

In 2025, things got worse. He spent the majority of the year on the physically unable to perform list, battling a combination of quad and back injuries that effectively wiped out his second season with the Titans. 

But Sneed is only 29 years old. He is expected to be healthy heading into the 2026 season, and the market for experienced, proven cornerbacks never dries up. The question now is where he signs next.

Where does L’Jarius Sneed land after his Titans exit in 2026?

It was the Chiefs who shipped L’Jarius Sneed to Tennessee in a 2024 trade. In four seasons with Kansas City, Sneed was a key piece of back-to-back Super Bowl runs, and three of those years were strong enough to keep him around. But the Chiefs made a business decision of their own, choosing to trade Sneed for two draft picks.

​Now that Sneed is available again, Kansas City has emerged as a natural reunion spot. He knows the system and would not cost much. However, the fit is complicated. The Chiefs have a well-established pattern of drafting, developing, and then trading the cornerbacks when the cost rises.

They proved that pattern again with the recent trade of cornerback Trent McDuffie. Kansas City will almost certainly address the position through the April draft rather than bringing back a familiar face.

Apart from them, the Rams are a compelling destination for Sneed, and the interest appears to be mutual. Jaylen Watson signed a three-year deal with the Rams on March 9. And soon after, Watson shared a throwback image from their days together with the Chiefs. 

Watson and Sneed overlapped in Kansas City for two seasons, and the photo quickly sparked speculation that Watson was sending Sneed a public invitation to join him in Los Angeles. 

With that, the Rams now have two former Chiefs cornerbacks on their roster. They acquired McDuffie via trade and signed Watson in free agency, building a secondary with a familiar defensive identity. If Sneed follows, Los Angeles would have three former Kansas City cornerbacks in the same room.