Was L’Jarius Sneed the biggest steal of the 2020 NFL Draft?

Late last week, Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports put out what will be the first of many “re-draft” columns you will read in the months to come, given that the NFL season has now arrived. Typically a draft is given a few years to play itself out before analysts try to say what “should have happened” with a re-drafte effort, but Trapasso decided to weigh in on the 2020 NFL Draft and gauge how things might look if all franchises had a chance to do it over.

What’s interesting with this exercise is that, at least according to Trapasso, it looks as if L’Jarius Sneed, a rookie cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is the most displaced player in the entire exercise. If so, it might be possible to consider him the single biggest steal of the 2020 NFL Draft.

In Trapasso’s exercise, he has Sneed going to the Carolina Panthers at No. 7 overall in the entire draft—the top seven picks!—and he writes:

"Sneed was quite easily the finest rookie cornerback in the NFL last season. He provides Carolina with the talented secondary member it absolutely needs."

Here’s the thing about Trapasso’s placement. Justin Herbert of the L.A. Chargers lands first overall instead of Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, who slips to fifth. All around the rest of the top ten are other first round picks, just re-situated with new teams here and there. For example, the Panthers own pick of defensive lineman Derrick Brown shifted down a single spot to No. 8 to the Arizona Cardinals.

L’Jarius Sneed could be the 2020 NFL Draft’s biggest steal.

Yet within that run of former first rounders is Sneed, a player who was taken at No. 138 overall. Every single NFL team, including the Chiefs, passed over Sneed multiple times before he was taken at the very end of the fourth round on the third day overall.

For a player taken that late to be considered that good this early is a testament to Sneed’s talent. Certainly the Chiefs deserve credit, including a front office with a vision for Sneed and a coaching staff who had him ready to play. But Sneed was the one performing and even he had to wonder why the Chiefs didn’t pull the trigger earlier than they did—that is, unless no one knew what he was truly capable of.

What makes Sneed’s inclusion all the more incredible is that he missed half of the season with a fractured collarbone. Imagine how much more developed he would be if he didn’t leave early in Week 3 and return by Week 11. Even still, he managed to put up 7 deflected passes, 3 interceptions, 2 sacks, and an opposing passer rating of 54.2 in 9 games.

As for who the Chiefs ended up with at the bottom of the first round, they landed offensive tackle Andrew Thomas which would actually be quite an ideal pick in retrospect, given the current injuries faced by the presumed starting tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher. Thomas was originally taken at No. 4 overall by the New York Giants.