Tennessee
Titans release L’Jarius Sneed after 2 disappointing seasons
The Tennessee Titans released cornerback L’Jarius Sneed after a tumultuous, disappointing, injury- and scandal-filled two seasons in Nashville, the team announced on March 13.
Sneed, 29, only played 12 games in two seasons with the Titans. By releasing Sneed, the Titans will incur a dead cap penalty ranging from anywhere between $8 million and $15 million and will save up to $16 million against the salary cap depending on the designation of his release.
The Titans traded for Sneed in March 2024, acquiring him from the Kansas City Chiefs and signing him to a four-year, $76.4 million extension through 2027. Sneed ranked among the 10 highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL by average annual value at the time of the extension and still ranked No. 12 heading into the 2026 offseason.
The investment didn’t pay off. Sneed arrived in Nashville with a pre-existing knee injury that landed him in a load management program. As a result, Sneed barely practiced during training camp in 2024, his first summer with the team. Nevertheless, Sneed began the season as a starter. He put up mixed results in the first five games of the season before sustaining a quad injury that, at the time, was not thought to be serious.
That original diagnosis was laughably incorrect. Sneed missed the remainder of the season with his quad injury. He ultimately admitted to having a small procedure done to correct the issue heading into the offseason. Later in the 2025 offseason, he also had a minor knee surgery to address the issues he arrived with in Nashville.
Those injuries delayed Sneed’s return to practice, keeping him off the field throughout OTAs and into training camp. All the while, Sneed was also dealing with the off-the-field matter of an allegation and eventual indictment stemming from a shooting by a Sneed associate in Dallas in 2024 where Sneed was on the scene and failed to report the incident to the authorities.
Sneed returned to the practice field just before the conclusion of training camp and was deemed healthy enough to play in the season opener, but he was on a limited snap count. By Week 2, Sneed returned to his full workload, but that didn’t last long. Sneed sustained another quad injury in the Titans’ Week 7 loss. He was quickly placed on injured reserve and didn’t play another snap or practice with the team for the rest of the season.
Sneed finished his Titans tenure with 49 tackles, three pass breakups and no interceptions.
Titans roster after free agency: How does team look without L’Jarius Sneed?
The Titans’ cornerback room has shifted tremendously since the start of NFL free agency. The Titans have added three veterans to the room in Alontae Taylor, Cor’Dale Flott and Joshua Williams. Taylor, formerly of the Saints, becomes one of the top 10 highest-paid cornerbacks in the league, while Flott (formerly of the Giants) is expected to step in as another starter. Williams was a rotational player in Kansas City, albeit one who played well in limited playing time.
Marcus Harris, a Titans sixth-round pick in 2025, is the lone returning contributor from the room. Darrell Baker Jr., is signing elsewhere after the Titans elected not to sign the tender on his restricted free agent contract.
Releasing Sneed is expected to save the Titans roughly $11 million in salary cap space though there will be a dead cap penalty of more than $8 million to pay out.
Other free agents who the Titans have added to their new-look roster in 2026 include defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers, wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, tight end Daniel Bellinger and offensive linemen Austin Schlottmann and Cordell Volson.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
Tennessee
Tennessee Softball Advances to College World Series
The Tennessee Lady Vols are now off to the College World Series after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the second game of what could have been a three-game series. The Lady Vols won the first game off the back of a gutsy performance by Karlyn Pickens, and many of their batters had a great outing.
In game two, the score was 2-0, as the Lady Vols scored off a two-run shot from Sophia Knight. Knight is one of the better players on the team for the Lady Vols, as she hit a home run in game one and had a home run in game two. This game was won without the Lady Vols best pitcher even coming to the mound, as the Lady Vols didn’t even use Karlyn Pickens in this contest.
Even though the Lady Vols are the team playing in their home stadium, they didn’t have the advantage in their game against the Lady Bulldogs, which means the Lady Vols had to pitch to a solid batting squad in the bottom of the ninth, who are also notorious for having a rally. The Bulldogs started the inning with a triple, and the batter later reached home after a wild pitch from Sage Mardjetko.
There would be one out with none on, and the Lady Vols’ star pitcher gained her swagger back with a nasty strikeout that completely fooled the batter on, although, had she gotten a hold of the ball, it likely would have been one to go over. Goodwin would come to the plate with the Lady Vols having a chance to punch their ticket to the college world series, which is exactly what happened off the back of a 1-2 count and a hit to the second baseman, who sat her down for the rest of the season.
The Lady Vols will now await the bracket.
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Tennessee
Tennessee school board member charged after calling teenage girl ‘hot’
An east Tennessee school board member who told a teenage girl, “God – you’re hot,” on video at a public meeting in April has been charged with assault.
State prosecutors on 18 May charged 59-year-old Keith Ervin under a Tennessee statute that outlaws “intentionally or knowingly [causing] physical contact with another [that] a reasonable person would regard … as extremely offensive or provocative”.
Tennessee considers that offense a class B misdemeanor, which upon conviction can carry up to six months in jail and a maximum $500 fine.
Ervin’s charge came after his participation in a 2 April meeting of the Washington county school board to which he was first elected in 2006. At that gathering, in plain view of a camera capturing video for the public board’s YouTube channel, Ervin gazed at a female student seated next to him, placed his left hand on her right shoulder, and said, “God – you’re hot. Did you know that? Damn.”
She laughed uncomfortably as he leaned in and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, continuing, “Where do you go to school at?” She provided the name of her school, and he rejoined, “All right.”
Other people in the room could be heard laughing at the end of the exchange. And the Washington school district’s superintendent, Jerry Boyd, visibly smiled while on the other side of the student.
Local media reports describe the girl as a high school senior and a student representative on the board. Her father later went on social media and criticized Ervin’s behavior as “disturbing and inappropriate”.
In that statement, reported by Tennessee news outlet WJHL, the girl’s father said neither he nor her mother believed Ervin “should be anywhere near students” – and he expressed incredulity that the moment passed “without immediate accountability”.
Ervin provided his own statement to WJHL in which he contended he was not “always good with words”. He also maintained that he would not purposefully offend anyone, though he acknowledged the video of him and the girl looked bad.
A Change.org petition almost immediately calling for the dismissals of Boyd and Ervin from their roles has since gathered more than 7,400 signatures. Ervin’s fellow school board members voted to censure him during a special meeting called on 8 April as outrage surrounding his filmed remarks spread beyond Washington county.
The female student at the center of the assault case addressed the county school board directly at a 7 May meeting – and she let its members know she was unimpressed with their handling of the matter, Tennessee’s Knoxville News Sentinel reported. She accused board members of cowardice while rejecting apologies from them, saying: “I do not forgive you.”
She added, “Thank you for teaching me that no one will stand up for me besides myself. Thank you for showing this community what you believe it means to protect our children.”
After he was charged in Washington county circuit court, Ervin was served with a criminal summons ordering him to appear at a hearing tentatively scheduled for 7 August.
Ervin did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
His Washington school district biography says he is a self-employed dairy farmer by trade. The biography also notes that Ervin has two daughters who previously graduated from the school attended by the student listed as the victim in his pending assault case.
Tennessee
‘Chud the Builder’ Tennessee shooting case headed to grand jury, bond slightly lowered
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The attempted murder case against Tennessee livestreamer Dalton Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” has now been bound over to the grand jury following a court hearing on Wednesday in Montgomery County.
According to court officials, Eatherly’s case was moved out of General Sessions Court and will now proceed in Circuit Court. His previously scheduled May 26 hearing has been canceled.
Eatherly’s bond was also lowered from $1.25 million to $1 million, according to updated court information on Wednesday.
WATCH: Here’s all we know so far about the controversial, arrested streamer known as “Chud the Builder”
The 28-year-old faces multiple felony charges, including attempted murder, after investigators said he shot another man during a confrontation outside the Montgomery County Courthouse on May 13.
Authorities previously said the shooting happened in broad daylight outside the courthouse complex after an altercation between two men escalated into gunfire. Both Eatherly and the other man suffered gunshot wounds.
The case has drawn widespread attention due to Eatherly’s controversial online presence. Known online as “Chud the Builder,” Eatherly built a following through confrontational livestreams filmed across Tennessee, including in Nashville and Clarksville.
Before the courthouse shooting, Eatherly had also recently been arrested in Nashville after police said he refused to pay a more than $370 bill at a steakhouse following a disturbance inside the restaurant.
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Eatherly remains jailed in Montgomery County as the criminal case moves forward in Circuit Court.
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