After an exciting win in Week 15 over the New Orleans Saints, one member of the Kansas City Chiefs earned recognition on Touchdown Wire’s weekly Secret Superstar list.
Chiefs rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed started the season filling in for suspended CB Bashaud Breeland. He burst onto the scene, leading the NFL in interceptions by Week 2. Unfortunately, he suffered a fractured clavicle in Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens, ending his big for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Thankfully, the injury didn’t end his season. Now that he’s back, he’s playing a different position and thriving once again.
Sneed coming off a game where he had two standout plays, including an early interception and a sack of Saints QB Drew Brees. He did surrender his first and only touchdown of the season in coverage on Sunday, but other than that he played a dominant game.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar has noticed that it isn’t just the splash plays that show up on the stat sheet with Sneed. It’s about the ones where you don’t hear his name called. Check out his coverage stats on the season:
“On the season, Sneed has allowed 21 receptions on 38 targets for 180 yards, 96 yards after the catch, one touchdown, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 43.8 — the NFL’s lowest among cornerbacks with at least 200 coverage snaps.”
When you consider that he’s done all of this as a rookie, playing both outside corner and nickel corner, it just makes you excited about the things to come in the future.
It appears that the Chiefs managed to snag one of the most dominant defensive backs in the NFL this season in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL draft. That’ll pay dividends the remainder of the year and during the next three seasons. Kansas City will need all the young and cheap talent that they can get their hands on to supplement a roster that carries the richest contract in the history of all sports.
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