By DREW BEATTY, film analyst
In 2024, out of the Tennessee Titans' many flaws, their depth at cornerback was a particularly crippling one. A large majority of their defensive collapse last season could be attributed to the lack of quality defenders in the secondary.
This issue didn’t fully come into light until Tennessee lost its newly acquired star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. After suffering a quad contusion early in the year that ended his season (in addition to an off-season knee surgery), his ability to return to the field in 2025 has been a prominent question mark for the Titans.
Reviewing Sneed’s Week One Performance
Despite a training camp full of uncertainty, Sneed ultimately ended up dressed and available for the Titans’ season-opener against the Denver Broncos. Even though he played on a sharp pitch count (only playing 21 total snaps), his return was vital to the secondary.
After an off-season of wondering if Sneed would even make it off the PUP list, a return to his former self seemed like a pipe dream. However, admittedly in a small sample size, he looked comfortable and back to 100% against the Broncos offense.
In his governed season opener, Sneed came out of the gate back in lockdown form. A return from this level of injury could cause concern for his trademark physical playstyle, but he didn’t miss a beat against a talented Broncos receiving core.
In this clip, in only his sixth defensive snap back from injury, Sneed was tasked with covering Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton in press-man coverage. With Sutton running a quick slant, Sneed was given a steep test right out of the gate. Looking back to All-Pro form, he wins the press rep at the line of scrimmage and dominates at the catch point to break up the pass. In the admittedly limited sample size, this was comfortably his best rep from the opener.
How Sneed Fared Against LA
In Tennessee’s Week Two matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, Sneed began to ramp back up to a starting-caliber workload (playing 56 snaps). With a higher rep count and tough matchups with Davante Adams and Puka Nacua, Sunday’s game was a much better sample of which to judge Sneed’s ability.
In a game where the Rams offense cruised to 33 points (and Adams/Nacua combined for 197 receiving yards), it’s reasonable to expect that Sneed miserably failed this test.
The film tells a very different story.
Once again, Sneed was tasked with playing a majority of man coverage against two of the most talented receivers in football, which indicates a significant level of trust in his recovery from this coaching staff. While he definitely wasn’t perfect, he more than held his own against an explosive offense.
In another extremely promising rep, Sneed is stuck with the near-impossible task of covering Adams in man coverage (with no help) on a speed out within the 5-yard line. The number of cornerbacks in the world that can handle that assignment can be counted on one hand. However, he comes away with a teach tape win on this rep.
Adams starts off his release with a jab step to Sneed’s inside hip before attacking his outside shoulder to gain outside leverage. In response, Sneed stays home and hand-fights his way into an advantageous position to break up Matthew Stafford’s pass at the pylon.
Although he had his share of wins, Sneed was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. The good in his week two performance was great, but his losses were disastrous. Interestingly, all of these losses ultimately occurred in the second half.
Sneed’s second-half struggles could be attributed to two things.
While his lower-body injuries don’t appear to be directly impacting his play thus far, the recovery process can still influence his play in other ways. Getting back into playing condition after being sidelined for almost a full calendar year is far easier said than done. When being asked to cover some of the best receivers in 
football in primarily man coverage after his recovery, some conditioning issues are bound to show up.
On the other hand, when asked to cover a probable Hall-of-Famer in Adams in consistent man coverage, any cornerback is bound to lose a rep eventually. His losses just so happened to be particularly crippling to the Titans in this outing.
It’s obviously still early in the season and nothing definitive can be said. But through 77 snaps in the 2025 season, Sneed seems to be well on his way back to his former high level of play.
With a general feeling of uncertainty, a lack of depth, and second-year Titan Jarvis Brownlee Jr. needing his mentorship, Sneed’s continued return to form is crucial to the success of Tennessee’s secondary.
