Chiefs place cornerback L’Jarius Sneed on IR, elevate linebacker Darius Harris

The Kansas City Chiefs placed rookie cornerback L’Jarius Sneed on injured reserve Wednesday afternoon, as announced via their official Twitter account.

Sneed, 23, broke his collarbone during the team’s Monday night game against the Baltimore Ravens.

“Sneed is going to have his clavicle fixed,” Reid announced. “It was fractured, so we’ll just see how that works for him as far as the time away and all.”

Sneed’s placement on injured reserve guarantees he will be away for at least three weeks, but it will almost assuredly be more — the injury typically takes at least six weeks to heal. 2020-only league rules allow teams to return an unlimited number of players from injured reserve.

Sneed’s absence means the Chiefs will face the New England Patriots with Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton, Antonio Hamilton and BoPete Keyes on the active roster at cornerback. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo takes his turn with the media on Thursday, so we should learn more about the team’s plans to replace Sneed then.

The Chiefs elevated 24-year-old linebacker Darius Harris with the vacant roster spot. Arrowhead Pride’s defensive film analyst, Craig Stout, broke down what to expect from Harris and the rest of the linebacker corps in late July.

STOUT: Darius Harris is a deep sleeper in the Chiefs linebacker corps — one who could not only end up making the squad but playing a significant role on special teams and in the dime defense. Harris spent the entire 2019 season on the NFI list with a shoulder injury but is coming into 2020 healthy — and with a better understanding of the scheme.

He is a fluid mover with good flexibility, which is key for some of the looping blitzes that Spagnuolo likes to execute from the second level. He’s comfortable rushing off the edge and has heavy hands to stack the edge and swipe through to disengage blockers.

In the future, Harris could be a SAM linebacker. But in the short term, I would look for him in some of the dime amoeba fronts from which Spagnuolo could blitz in 2020.