Kansas City Chiefs rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed earned the start opposite Charvarius Ward after a stellar training camp.
Sneed was chosen to fill in for Bashaud Breeland, who is out with a four-game suspension to start the season. He’d soon find himself as the No. 1 corner for Kansas City after Ward would leave the game with a fractured hand after 30 snaps or so. It was a compromising situation for a rookie to be in, but Sneed stepped up and answered the challenge better than anyone could have hoped for.
Following the game, Chiefs DB Tyrann Mathieu was asked about Sneed’s performance. The first question was framed with the idea that many expected rookies to perform poorly without a preseason for them to get acclimated to the NFL game, but Mathieu vehemently rejected that notion.
“We don’t listen to outside noise,” Mathieu said. “We focus on what our coaches tell us. We focus on our teammates and trying to encourage each other and build each other up. I wouldn’t say that I saw him having this day, but I did see the kid playing solid ball. I did see him making tackles and making plays. But to have a night like this, you know on prime time TV, the whole world is watching, all of his family is watching, you know I’m just excited for him and happy for him going forward.”
Sneed finished the game with three total tackles, two passes defended and an interception. Mathieu was pleasantly surprised by the performance, not because he didn’t think Sneed was capable, but because of what it meant for him moving forward. He’s now someone that the team can rely on to be a starter. As for Mathieu’s role in Sneed’s interception, it’s all in a day’s work for the Honey Badger.
“I was just doing my job, man,” Mathieu said. “Trying my best to make an impact on a play. A lot of what I do, don’t show up on the stat sheet, but I love to do it. I’m just happy that he caught it. We left a lot of those interceptions, just like that, on the field last year. We dropped maybe 10 or 11 as a group. To see the kid focus in and lock in, catch the ball, and then show his 4.3 speed. I think that’s why he’s starting for us right now.”
Mathieu hopes that it’ll be the first of many interceptions for the Chiefs’ secondary. Sneed also wasn’t entirely certain that he was going to catch the ball when he saw Deshaun Watson float it his way.
“I thought I was going to drop it, honestly,” Sneed said. “It was just floating. Those are the hardest balls to catch.”
Luckily, the rookie caught it. Because you know if he didn’t his teammates wouldn’t have been able to let him live that one down. Instead, Sneed gets praise from one of the leaders of the defense and was one of the heroes of the season opener.
Not a bad start from one of the more unheralded rookies in the 2020 draft class. He’ll look to build on his performance in Week 2, learning from minor mistakes and stacking good weeks.
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