The Tennessee Titans finally made their trade for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed official on Friday and general manager Ran Carthon shared his thoughts on the move.
“It’s a huge get,” Carthon said, according to Jim Wyatt. “It gives you three top-flight corners in him and Chidobe (Awuzie) and Roger (McCreary) that can just flat-out cover people. He matches Chido’s energy of being a physical, aggressive corner that can also play in run support. You see a lot of the way game is going with the toss crack, and forcing the corners to come up there and play more in run support, and we have guys who are willing to stick their face in there and tackle people.”
Sneed’s name had come up in trade rumors all offseason, with the Titans regularly being connected to the lockdown cornerback.
Carthon noted how patience was important in the process.
“You just remain patient,” he said. “You did your due diligence prior to them franchising him, and then when he was franchised, you kind of got a feel on where it could possibly go.
“And then (the Chiefs) got the deal done with Chris Jones. You study other teams and try and figure out where they are, so it was one of those things where we used a patient and diligent approach, and when the opportunity presented itself, we were in a position to do it, and we made it happen.
“And, it took effort from both teams to get it done.”
On top of the trade, the Titans reportedly inked Sneed to a four-year, $76.2 million deal that includes $55 million guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus.
The annual average ($19.05 million) and guaranteed money rank eighth and fifth among cornerbacks, respectively, per Over the Cap.