Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo on the defense without L’Jarius Sneed: ‘I miss him every day’

The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense in 2023 showed the league they were for real with their consistent dominance through the Super Bowl LVIII run.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo addressed the change in the secondary, which included L’Jarius Sneed’s departure in the offseason and the possibility of Trent McDuffie taking over his role moving forward. He spoke with reporters about it on Monday after practice.

“We’ll see how that goes. I mean, almost every game, we had LJ (L’Jarius Sneed) travel with the “top receiver,” whether we do that or not with Trent (McDuffie), it’ll just be a game-by-game plan. We’ll see who the other corner is and who the nickel is.” said Spagnuolo. “There’s still a lot of unknowns right now. We got some work to do back there. We certainly miss LJ; I miss him every day.”

During his 57 regular-season games in Kansas City, Sneed had ten interceptions and 40 passes defended. In the postseason, he had one interception and seven passes defended in 13 games, primarily against the opposing team’s top receiver.

“Some of the schemes might change. We’ll see somebody going to step up and serve that particular role. If we don’t, we go in another direction and find another way to do it,” said Spagnuolo. “In the years we’ve been here, we always, every game, travel a corner. We did it a little bit when Charvarius Ward was here; we did with him, but it’ll be a game-by-game thing.”

The Chiefs’ defense was the team’s primary strength last season and was praised for its work in the secondary. The absence of Sneed could play a significant role in whether or not the success can be replicated in 2024.