Chiefs' CB L'Jarius Sneed has one message for GM Brett Veach: 'Pay me'
Fresh off the Kansas City Chiefs' 25-22 overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII, L'Jarius Sneed made a brief appearance on the Up & Adams show Thursday to recap the season.
The Chiefs cornerback brimmed with joy and smiled looking back on another successful season and helping the Chiefs become the first to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the New England Patriots did so 19 years ago.
Then Kay Adams, the host, turned the conversation to Sneed's impending free agency, and if he had any message for general manager Brett Veach. The 27-year-old just finished playing on the final year of his rookie contract, and he said it's time for Kansas City to show him the money.
"Pay me," Sneed said as he laughed. "Pay me, pay me. That's what I've got to say — pay me."
For Veach's part, he's already one step ahead and addressed both Sneed's contract, as well as defensive tackle Chris Jones' deal expiring. One step Veach has already taken to reconstruct the championship roster was signing defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to an extension on Wednesday.
Sneed and Jones are the top priorities for Veach now that the team is in the offseason, he said during Super Bowl media days. Both players were instrumental to Kansas City's back-to-back titles, and Veach has been open acknowledging their importance to the Chiefs.
NFL Network floated the idea that Kansas City could elect to use the franchise tag on Sneed to allow it more time to figure out a long-term deal. The anticipated figure for that is around $18.8 million for the one year.
Sneed was consistently matched up with opponents' top receivers and regularly made them invisible on the field. His 2023 campaign ended with 78 tackles, a career-high 14 passes defended and two interceptions in 16 games.
Against receivers like Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hill, Ja'Marr Chase, Davante Adams and more, Sneed conceded the lowest completion percentage (51.0) and passer rating (56.2) of his four-year career, when quarterbacks threw his way.
"Sometimes I look at our situation and I'm like, 'I don't know how we're going to do this,' but we usually work through things systematically and have a list of the priorities," Veach said via ESPN.
"Certainly, Chris and LJ are at the top of the list. It's extremely hard because you have two keystone players there."
