Titans activate L'Jarius Sneed from PUP after quad injury, knee clean-up procedure

They are the words that Tennessee Titans fans hoped to hear for weeks now. L'Jarius Sneed is back. On Wednesday, the Titans activated their top cornerback from the PUP list after passing a physical, and he will return to practice. 

Sneed suffered a quad injury last year that held him to just five games played, and he then had a clean-up procedure done on his knee in May, "which set him back a little bit," according to new general manager Mike Borgonzi. 

The former Kansas City Chiefs star was traded along with a seventh-round pick to the Titans last offseason in exchange for a third-round pick, and signed a four-year, $76.4 million contract. However, Sneed did not look like a top NFL cornerback in his five outings with the Titans in 2024, recording 23 tackles, zero passes defensed and zero interceptions before being shut down for the year. Sneed recorded at least 78 tackles and 11 passes defensed as the Chiefs won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023. 

While Sneed returning to practice is a positive development, coach Brian Callahan has not guaranteed that he will be in the lineup when the Titans open the season Sept. 7 against the Denver Broncos.

"We'll see," Callahan said. "I don't have any definitive timelines that I can pin that to. We're going to find out. A lot of that, even the return to practice part, as you've seen with veterans that we've had in with Quandre (Diggs) and now Lloyd (Cushenberry III) working back in, there's a health standpoint where you're able to return to practice and then there's the actual playing of football and the shape that you have to be in to go participate in a 70-play NFL game."