Former Minden star L’Jarius Sneed met with the media at an introductory press conference in Nashville on April 2 after being traded from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Tennessee Titans.
According to media reports, Sneed signed a four-year contract worth $76 million with $55 million guaranteed.
But the cornerback said money wasn’t the most important thing.
“The money don’t change anything,” said Sneed, a former Louisiana Tech standout. “I love this game for the game. The money, you know, for my family, to get them right, take a little pressure off my shoulders. Now I can do what I love and play ball.”
Sneed spent four years in Kansas City. He played in three Super Bowls and his play was a big factor in the Chiefs winning the last two.
He said he prayed about the trade and signing with Tennessee.
“Oh man just say God honestly,” he said. “I left everything in God’s hands you know during the whole entire little situation. Whatever was going on I just stayed prayed up and just let God do his work.
“It was kind of nerve-wracking I can say because me and my agent, it was a lot of back and forth. My agent was telling me to be calm and let everything come out. Last Monday (March 25) is where I realized I’m going to get the trade.
Sneed is coming to a team that went 6-11 last season. He was asked what he was bringing from the winning culture in Kansas City,
“Just bring my swagger you know,” he said. “Just bring what I learned, what the coaches over there installed in me and bring it here. And I think we’re going to be OK.”
The Titans are expected to have a young secondary and Sneed wants to help his new teammates by imparting what he learned in Kansas City.
“I can say I know what it took,” he said. “It’s not only in the building. We took time out of the building coming together as in praying or coming together as one, as a whole, and that’s what I’m going to try to bring here, just try to pull us together. And I think when we’re together as a whole we can play good coverage.”
Sneed said he wants to continue to be a leader.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m very very vocal,” he said. “I’m not the ra ra guy. I’m not going to be all down your neck. I might pull you to the side, say work on this, work on that, or even work with you to get better.”
Sneed was a fourth-round draft pick. He said he has continued to grow and learn over the years and that gaining confidence in his abilities was a process.
“Each year I go back and watch my film,” he said. “Whatever I can get better at that’s what I try to do each year and this year I’m going to do the same.
“The confidence built over the years and it got better and better over the years. Coming as a low draft from a small school, know everybody didn’t believe in me. But I stayed down and kept working.”
Sneed said confidence, resiliency and relentlessness are his hallmarks now.
“I’m a hell of a player. I love my game. I don’t fear anything. I’m not afraid to lose but I’m going to win most of my reps.”
That attitude has helped him shut down some of the NFL’s top receivers. It’s something he takes pride in.
“I wanted to follow the number one guys and the best guys on the field,” he said. “That what I want to do. You know each year I try to make new challenges, challenge myself.”
“If I can eliminate one guy, the best player on the field, it helps everybody else around us,” he said later in the conference.
Titans General Manager Ran Carthon sat beside Sneed and also spoke at the press conference.
Sneed toured the team’s practice facility at Ascension St. Thomas Sports Park with his mother, Jane, and his 6-year-old son, according to a report on tennesseetitans.com, the team’s official website.
“It’s great,” he said. “I feel a connection already. I feel like family. He’s making me feel comfortable already in this facility and it’s my first time to meet him and the whole organization.”
Sneed was known for giving back to the community in Kansas City. He said he plans to continue that in Tennessee.
“God used me in Kansas City,” he said. “I’m going to make sure he uses me here in Tennessee. Giving back to the community, whatever I can do, whatever God has planned for me in my life, in Tennessee. That’s what I’m bringing here.”