Weldone Deal For KC Chiefs” Chiefs HC Has Announced His potential Signing Ahead O…
Depending on who you believe, the Indianapolis Colts potential trade for Kansas City Chiefs standout cornerback L’Jarius Sneed is either done—or may not get done entirely, based on conflicting reports from two reputable sources:
I don’t want to frame this as AtoZSports’ Destin Adams versus ESPN’s Stephen Holder in a good ole’ fashioned ‘source-off,’ but Colts nation is clearly stuck in limbo as we await to see whether this deal happens or doesn’t happen imminently.
Both Colts beat writers may be reporting and trusting what their sources are telling them—but they just have different sources and perhaps at different levels of the organization (hence, the apparent conflict). These situations also remain entirely fluid.
For the record, there are a few other Twitter (or X) league sources backing Adams’ report including the infamous ‘PrettyRickey213’ (who’s already hit on a number of signings before they came in league-wide). However, KOAColorado’s Benjamin Allbright’s latest report supports Holder’s report, as well as longtime Colts beat writer, Fox59/CBS4’s Mike Chappell.
From my perspective (and claiming no-sourcing), there’s been entirely too much smoke as of late regarding Sneed eventually going to the Colts—and given Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard’s past history in Kansas City—and I think this deal ultimately gets done.
It just may not be done quite yet, but really close to the finish line.
There could be last details to hammer out on Sneed’s new lucrative Colts contract, or perhaps Indianapolis is reviewing his medicals or wanting him to conduct a physical. Perhaps all is left is to submit the tradework to the league office come Monday morning.
For what it’s worth, there should be a resolution soon because free agency moves really fast.
The Colts can afford to wait a little bit longer, but they can’t wait too long on Sneed—or they’ll risk being too slow to pivot to other available veteran options at starting cornerback or safety which they still desperately need to shore up their secondary for next season.
At any rate, Colts fans are left to patiently wait this weekend, and as the late great Tom Petty once so eloquently sang, “The waiting is the hardest part!”
For the last two seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs have not had a wide receiver reach the 1,000-yard mark — and 2023 was the first season since 2014 that the team did not have a single pass-catcher reach that threshold.
So in this offseason, it felt like adding a big-name free-agent wideout would have been one of general manager Brett Veach’s biggest priorities. Through the opening week of free agency, one top receiver after another went off the market. But all along, the Chiefs were focused on a player who was arguably the strongest fit among all the top veterans at the position: Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
On Thursday night, Kansas City signed the former big-play threat for the Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens to a one-year, $7 million contract with up to $4 million in incentives, setting up the former first-round pick to use the coming season as a “prove-it” campaign before he next hits the open market at the age of 27.
Brown’s skillset matches very well with what the team needs from a starting wide receiver. Let’s see how he could boost the Chiefs’ passing attack.
When given a free release, Brown explodes into his routes — and then continues to gain speed as he heads downfield on vertical patterns. His top speed can eliminate the 10 or more yards of cushion outside cornerbacks tend to give him at the snap — and destroy the angles taken by deep safeties.
When he is faced with tighter coverage at the snap, Brown shows the quick feet and sudden movements he needs to get cornerbacks out of balance. That can give him a step on a defender — and prevents them from playing too aggressively, since an overstep can lead to a blown coverage and a huge gain.
That is the fear that a deep threat should instill in coverage defenders; it’s an asset that the receiver (and the offense) can utilize. While Valdes-Scantling had safety-pushing speed, he was unable to build a wider route tree from there.
Brown, however, can use his deep speed to create open windows on shorter, breaking routes. On comeback routes to the sideline, he does an excellent job of selling a deep pattern with multiple gear shifts to keep cornerbacks on their heels. This gives him more ways to win on the outside; he can do more than simply get behind the last line of pass coverage.
Route running at all three levels
Like Valdes-Scantling, Brown is dangerous on deep routes — but there is so much more to his skillset. His speed is complemented by quickness and acceleration which makes him hard to cover on short and intermediate routes, too.
