The Chiefs have a tough choice to make when it comes to free agency and who they should franchise tag. Joe Valerio feels the team should aim to keep L’Jarius Sneed.

The Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in a precarious situation following their Super Bowl win. Much like the other 31 teams in the league, they must make some difficult choices in terms of which free agents to retain.

There are two big choices to add the franchise tag to, which are CB L’Jarius Sneed and DT Chris Jones. Both are fantastically good players, and the Chiefs will need to make a tough decision. Joe Valerio believes that Sneed should be the choice over Jones, as he revealed on Bleav in Chiefs.

“This is my own humble opinion. I felt like you would lose more if you lost L’Jarius than if we lost Chris. That’s just my opinion. I’m not taking anything away from the big guy, because he is obviously the best defensive tackle in the league and he has proven it. My thought is that the Chiefs either in the draft or within free agency could get somebody closer to Chris Jones.”

via Joe Valerio, Bleav in Chiefs

Sneed finished the 2023 season with 2 INT and 14 PD. Even more impressive is he gave up a 51.0% completion percentage against opposing QBs and did not give up 1 TD.

Jones has also been a menace as well, logging a staggering 10.5 sacks as a DT.

It’s hard to quantify between an elite CB and pass rusher like Jones, but Valerio believes more DT options can be attained easier than a lockdown CB.

“I think marginally they could get more out of a younger defensive lineman to at least get close to Chris Jones than you could when you’re talking about the skill of a lockdown, physical, corner like L’Jarius Sneed.”

via Joe Valerio

Sneed is very good at what he does, but Jones being higher in age could be his biggest drawback. He is clearly playing at a high level still, but that could mean the Chiefs would be more receptive to the idea of finding a replacement for Jones over having to find a young CB to mold.