Chiefs’ trade return for L’Jarius Sneed up to par with current market

Kansas City’s haul was underwhelming, but other recent deals have produced similar returns.

When the Kansas City Chiefs traded star franchise-tagged cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans last month, fans were instantly disappointed with the return.

After the Chiefs were initially rumored to be seeking a second-round pick in this month’s draft, the star defender fetched a third-round selection — in 2025. The teams will also swap 2024 seventh-rounders, giving the Chiefs the top choice in this draft’s final frame.

Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Titans signed the 27-year-old Sneed to a four-year contract worth $76 million, with $55 million guaranteed.

It is likely a high-stakes game of musical chairs among star wide receivers in 2022 unrealistically raised expectations for the value of a top cornerback.

The Chiefs executed a mega trade two years ago by sending star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins for a package of five draft picks — which helped build the deep roster that has since delivered a pair of Super Bowl victories.

The Hill trade followed the Las Vegas Raiders’ sending their first two 2022 draft selections to the Green Bay Packers for star wideout Davonte Adams. During the draft itself, the Philadelphia Eagles sent the 18th and 101st overall selections to the Titans for receiver A.J. Brown.

Hill, Adams and Brown would sign contracts with their new teams worth a combined $360 million.

New Chiefs receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown was also part of a trade involving a first-round pick between the Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals.

Many have speculated that — after a season where the Chiefs’ training staff had to manage multiple leg ailments on a weekly basis — health concerns regarding Sneed drove down the trade’s compensation. Arrowhead Pride’s editor-in-chief, Pete Sweeney, has confirmed that a potential trade with the Minnesota Vikings collapsed due to fears of the cornerback’s knee.

The hypothetical Vikings trade would have sent the Chiefs a 2024 fourth-rounder plus a 2025 third-round selection.

However, other moves throughout the NFL over the past week suggest another impediment to a team winning a trade by sending a star player elsewhere. Simply put, teams currently appear unwilling to double a high financial cost to pay a new player with a high price in draft capital.

The NFL’s next major trade demonstrated that Chiefs fans probably should be happy general manager Brett Veach managed to land a draft pick only one year away.

The Eagles traded pass rusher Hasson Reddick — who has appeared in every game over the past four seasons while totaling 50.5 sacks in that span — to the New York Jets for a 2026 third-rounder. If Reddick meets sack and defensive snap thresholds, Philadelphia will receive the Jets’ second-round selection.

The Jets also inherited the $15 million owed Reddick during the final season of his current contract.

Out of nowhere, this week saw another trade deliver a shockingly low return.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Buffalo Bills sent wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans on Wednesday. The 30-year-old Diggs is coming off of six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

The Bills received a 2025 second-round selection for the star receiver, a stark comparison to the 2022 wide receiver market. To make matters worse, Buffalo will surrender a Day 3 pick to Houston in each of the next two drafts as part of the trade.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter provided further details on Thursday that Houston had agreed to pay the remaining $22.5 million guaranteed to Diggs through 2025 during this season — and would void the contract’s final three seasons, allowing the receiver to hit free agency next spring.

The bottom line

To be fair, the three situations are not equal. Sneed is, by all accounts, a beloved teammate who played a crucial role in two championship runs. Reddick and (especially) Diggs appear to have worn out their welcomes with their previous teams. The defensive back is also currently the only of the three under contract beyond 2024.

While Sneed is the youngest of the three players, he is also old for a player signing his second contract — possibly made more concerning when paired with his health questions.

The common theme among the three is the immediate hit on their new teams’ pocketbooks. Sneed, Reddick and Diggs will combine to earn $62.5 million for the 2024 season.

We can likely now look at the 2022 trade frenzy involving some of the league’s top wide receiver talent as an aberration. While none of Sneed, Reddick, or Diggs (at this point in his career) ever had hope of netting as high of returns, their recent body of work suggested the Chiefs, Eagles, and Bills should have expected more.

With several high-profile wide receivers — led by the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson—nearing the end of their rookie contracts, it will be interesting to see if teams return to a willingness to effectively pay twice to acquire top talent.