Both sides were hoping things would turn out better than they have. Instead, cornerback L'Jarius Sneed and the Tennessee Titans have to be wondering how things have turned out so poorly two years into their relationship.
The Titans placed Sneed on injured reserve with a quad injury this week. That requires Sneed to miss the next four games for Tennessee, including this week's divisional showdown against the red-hot Indianapolis Colts.
Sneed's injury comes on the heels of a rather disastrous showing against the New England Patriots in Week 7, a game in which the former Kansas City Chiefs corner allowed two touchdown receptions. Sneed was also called out, in part, by Pats receiver Kayshon Boutte who scored on Sneed and later said, "We took advantage of lazy cornerback play, lazy safety play."
The former Chiefs cornerback has been placed back on injured reserve for the Titans.
The last two weeks aren't the only ones that have not been kind to Sneed. Ever since he was traded by the Chiefs to Nashville in exchange for a third-round choice, he's dealt with serious injuries that have kept him from making the sort of impact envisioned by Titans' brass. The obvious talents that earned him a lucrative four-year deal have been overwhelmed by availability concerns as lingering injuries have kept him out.
Sneed was only able to play five games in his first season in Tennessee before landing on injured reserve. It was his first season without a single turnover forced, and he allowed a 91.8 percent passer rating in coverage.
This season, Sneed was again injured for the majority of the preseason before finding some early success after saying he felt great. Yet as Tennessee's season has fallen apart, Sneed's play has unraveled as well, with an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 50.4.
Now that Sneed is back on the shelf, Titans fans have yet another reason to be exasperated with the state of the team. It's also another reason to expect general manager Mike Borgonzi to likely find a way out from under his contract in the coming offseason.