Chiefs rookie review: Draft class comes up big against Texans

L’Jarius Sneed

Despite the first round pick’s excellent showing, and it was superb, it was not the best rookie news from the Chiefs dismantling of the Texans. Instead, that honor goes to fourth round cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. And we may have known this was coming.

Kansas City knew prior to the NFL Draft that starting cornerback Bashaud Breeland would be suspended to start the NFL season for the first four games. They also knew they’d need to rely on young, inexperienced cornerbacks to hold down the fort in his absence. The team drafted corners in the fourth and seventh rounds of the draft, and brought in veteran Antonio Hamilton to build depth.

For most of the summer, we believed that Hamilton or second-year corner Rashad Fenton would be the second starting cornerback opposite Charvarius Ward. Yet by the time kickoff rolled around on Thursday, all of Chiefs Kingdom knew that the rookie, Sneed, would be the second outside man.

The Texans knew that as well. With the Chiefs putting more experienced corners like Fenton and Hamilton inside, Houston cornerback Deshaun Watson targeted the rookie multiple times early, and even got the better of him more than once. However, by the time the first quarter was over, Sneed looked like a veteran who belonged on the field, an instant fit for a championship defense.

Sneed shut down the Texans receivers he covered the rest of the way, despite being continually targeted by the opposition’s Pro Bowl quarterback.

Sneed legitimately looks like he could be the team’s best corner by mid-season, and they may need him to be. Charvarius Ward, Kansas City’s number one corner, fractured his hand in Thursday’s victory. While we do not yet know any injury timeline, the team’s depth will be tested and Sneed’s presence will be critical.

Fortunately it appears that Sneed, along with the rest of Brett Veach’s third draft class, is up for the task.