NFL Rumors: L’Jarius Sneed may not be long gone from Chiefs after all

As the rumor mill swirled at this weekend's NFL Combine, most Kansas City Chiefs fans came away with the same disappointing conclusion: cornerback L'Jarius Sneed is going to be leaving this offseason, likely in a tag-and-trade situation after Brett Veach uses the franchise tag on him.

That only grew further legs with trade suitors emerging that Sneed could end up with and even with some working on how the Chiefs could ultimately replace their star defensive back either in free agency or, more likely, the draft.

But it turns out, the Chiefs might not have to replace L'Jarius Sneed at all.

On Sunday, Dianna Russini, Nate Taylor and Larry Holder of The Athletic ($) reported that, while a tag-and-trade scenario is still on the table for the Chiefs and Sneed if a new contract is not reached before April's NFL Draft, the cornerback still hopes to re-sign in Kansas City, looking for a three or four-year contract.

NFL Rumors: L'Jarius Sneed wants long-term deal with Chiefs

The report indicates that has been the goal for Sneed all along, something that he's expressed to the front office on multiple occasions over the past two years.

While the Chiefs and Sneed are going to make whatever move makes the most sense for them in this business, the fact that the star defensive back wants to stay is crucial. With the way reports had been framed over the past week, it appeared that the writing was on the wall that he would willingly be on his way out if he didn't get the money.

That may be the case to some degree if Sneed and Kansas City are extremely far apart in negotiations, but if that's not the case, then perhaps the desire to stay with the back-to-back Super Bowl champions might be enough to close any minor gap between the two parties.

It's still a long offseason ahead with just shy of two months until the self-imposed deadline with Sneed of the draft. Having said that, there should be more optimism about the future of the cornerback with the Chiefs based on this new information in the wake of all the recent buzz.