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Kansas City Chiefs rookie cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has emerged as an unlikely playmaker when it comes to getting after the quarterback.
In the last four games he’s played in, Sneed has recorded four sacks and nine total pressures. He’s been one of the most productive players in the league blitzing from the nickel corner position, and just in that four-game span. He even has outproduced a number of his teammates on the defensive line in those games.
Given his recent success rushing the passer, Sneed was asked if he was part of the very exclusive club brought to Kansas City by defensive tackle Chris Jones. Sneed downplayed his success and said he’d have to consult Jones on the matter. The CEO of Sack Nation himself weighed in on the subject on social media shortly after.
Hell yeah. @jay__sneed solid https://t.co/uh5eLf4kGk
— Chris Jones (@StoneColdJones) February 3, 2021
“I’m still learning and I’m still growing,” Sneed told reporters on Wednesday. “I have a lot of work that I have to put in. But we’re getting better day-by-day.”
That’s just part of the workman’s mantra that Sneed seems to live by. He knows that his success so far means very little, that he hasn’t arrived yet and that he needs to continue to push the envelope as a player. Recently, that’s meant learning an entirely different position (nickel corner) while he was injured during the regular season.
“He just put his nose to the grindstone,” Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo said of Sneed. “Like any of these young guys, we had to knock a couple of bad habits out of him, but he embraced it. Then the injury happened and it kind of set him back a little bit, I felt real bad for him because he was having a heck of a year. But during the injury, he showed that he is mature beyond his years in the work that he did while he was injured. To ask him to look at a position that he had not done in training camp and to be ready for that when he was healthy, to me was really, really impressive. Even now he’s learning on the go… I’m really proud of him, we’re glad we got him. I know the guys enjoy having him out there and I’m looking forward to him being out there on Sunday and hopefully, he can continue to be confident and make some plays for us.”
Sneed hopes to make some plays too. Next up on his list is getting after Buccaneers QB Tom Brady in Super Bowl LV, not only in the passing game, but as a pass-rusher too.
“Oh man, it’d be lovely,” Sneed said. “I let him (Tom Brady) getaway the first time (in Week 12), when the running back went to the flat. He muffed the ball and I dropped it out of my hands. It’d be amazing for me to pick off a guy like Tom (Brady) and also get a strip-sack from his as well, that’d be lovely.”
Given the stamp of approval from Sack Nation and Spagnuolo’s newfound trust in Sneed as a pass-rusher, we could certainly see that strip-sack on Super Bowl Sunday.
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