When people ask me whether the Tennessee Titans cornerback room will be a strength of the team in 2025, my response is usually “tell me whether L’Jarius Sneed is going to be L’Jarius Sneed again.”
Ran Carthon made a big swing to go and get Sneed ahead of the 2024 season. In hindsight, it was too big a swing for where this franchise was in their team building cycle. And in a twist of irony, the man who worked to ship Sneed out of Kansas City for the Titans 2025 3rd round pick—Mike Borgonzi—is the one left dealing with Sneed and his contract today.
Now, “dealing with Sneed” is probably a bit harsh. I’ll say first and foremost that he is somebody I have brought up many times in conversation with Titans coaches throughout the offseason, both on and off the record. And the message given to me has been consistent: they aren’t particularly worried about him rebounding this year. They still see the guy who earned that 4 year/$76.4M contract, even though we never truly got to see him in 2024.
Sneed is currently rehabbing both injuries we’re aware of: a chronic knee issue that he’s always had to deal with through rehab and load management, and the freak quad injury that knocked him out after just a month last year. This came as a surprise to some fans when head coach Brian Callahan said he’s still working on both issues, but it shouldn’t have. This is to be expected at this point. When—and how much—he will be back is the real question right now, which Callahan answered this past week:
“Yeah, I think there's a healthy balance there. He's coming back injury-wise. So, the rehab process is ongoing. He's in a good spot, excited about where he's at. But there's definitely a part of, I'd like to practice more. I think he's on the same page, too, where you got to balance those things. There's a management part for a lot of players. But there's also you got to practice and get better at your craft and continue to improve. So, we'll balance that. I feel good about where that process is for us and for him. I think he's well on the same page as well.”
Heading into his 2nd year as a Titan, the rubber simply has to hit the road for Sneed. Not just for the sake of living up to the investment the Titans made in him, but for the sake of their ability on the boundary. Tennessee has three clear starters at cornerback, at least on paper: L’Jarius Sneed and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. on the outside, and Roger McCreary at nickel.
If and when those three are playing their brand of football on the field together, this is an above-average group. You can play some really great football with those three. But the minute one goes down—or doesn’t play up to their potential—things get hairy in a hurry. Here’s the list of guys currently behind them: Marcus Harris, Darrell Baker Jr, Amani Oruwariye, Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Jermari Harris, Clarence Lewis, Jalen Kimber, and Davion Ross.
If you aren’t familiar with many of those names, I can’t blame you. It’s mostly UDFA’s and no-name vets. Now I can tell you there’s some truly promising upside in there, which there is, but that doesn’t matter until somebody emerges over the summer to establish some quality depth in the room.
The Titans are banking on that happening, but that’s a risky assumption to make at this point. If Sneed’s injuries hold him back in any way, or if he doesn’t bounce back from a lackluster start to his time in two tone blue, that shaky depth may be tested early.
