7 teams the Lions must outbid for L'Jarius Sneed as his market heats up

3. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars seem set to remodel their secondary a bit, letting cornerback Darious Williams and safety Rayshawn Jenkins before free agency starts. Cornerback now arguably stands as their biggest offseason need, and Sneed is the best of the available bunch.

It would not appear to be much trouble for Jacksonville to get Sneed, in terms of parting with the required draft pick in a trade. But the bigger issue stands to be how they're allocating fairly limited cap dollars. They could more easily sign a veteran a notch below Sneed, then take one of the top corners from a deep draft class at the position with the 17th overall pick in April's draft.

2. Atlanta Falcons

Aside from A.J. Terrell, the Falcons are lacking at cornerback. And they have the cap space ($37.26 million as of Sunday afternoon) to absorb the $19.8 million franchise tag for Sneed and subsequently work on a multi-year deal.

But it appears the Falcons are a significant suitor for Kirk Cousins, as they look to address the quarterback position and not go half-way to doing it. That will eat up a lot of cap room, and to have competence at the most important position on the field it might just be worth it.

The Falcons are an easy potential suitor for Sneed, but how significant they'll ultimately be is a big question.

1. Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are another of the seven total teams with interest in Sneed (including the Lions) Dragon mentioned in his report, and they look like the most dangerous to Detroit's potential pursuit. According to Destin Adams of AtoZ Sports, a team source was clear about how highly they think of the Chiefs' cornerback.

"If he (Sneed) hit free agency, he would have been our top priority at CB and free agent altogether to pursue." 

The Colts second and third-round picks this year (No. 46 and No. 82 overall respectively), are better than the Lions' second round pick (No. 61) and their own third-rounder (No. 92).

The differentiators could be the third-round pick the Lions got from the Vikings in the T.J. Hockenson trade (No. 73 overall), in a potential package of picks to offer for Sneed, and their overall appeal as being closer to winning a Super Bowl than the Colts are.

Of course the Lions could render the Colts and every other potential Sneed suitor moot by going all-in with a trade offer.

If Sneed is available, and there is some level of "if" involved at this point, the Lions should not lose out on him because they were unwilling to do whatever it took to get him. The competition will be heavy, but they can make a strong case they are the best new spot for him as Sneed considers those options.