Steve Spagnuolo Praises CB Christian Roland-Wallace: 'He's Earned Everything'

Following Christian Roland-Wallace's best game of his young career, Steve Spagnuolo spoke about his role and how it came to be.

Aug 22, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Nsimba Webster (83) runs the ball as Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace (30) defends during the first half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

A major reason why the Kansas City Chiefs have sustained their current dynasty is securing valuable contributions from cost-controlled talents. Quality players on rookie contracts are great for building successful teams, and even late-round draft picks can raise the floor of championship contenders.

Don't forget about undrafted free agents, though. Kansas City is well-versed in using that as a means for improvement, and defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton is an example of such an investment paying off long-term. This year, it's former USC and Arizona defensive back Christian Roland-Wallace who's managing to stand out.

In his first real playing time of the year in Week 7, Roland-Wallace recorded his first interception. That pick factored into the Chiefs' win over the San Francisco 49ers in a legitimate way. With starting cornerback Jaylen Watson suffering an ankle injury that saw him land on injured reserve, Kansas City will be relying on players like Roland-Wallace to step up if given increased playing time.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo thinks the rookie is up for the challenge.

"Listen, C-Ro is one of those guys that came here as a free agent, he earned everything he's gotten right now," Spagnuolo said. "He made the team, made the roster, made the 53. He's earned playing time. Dave (Merritt) and I talked every week about trying to get him in there in games – got him in there last week, I think before Jaylen got hurt – but we've been talking about it a lot. I guess what I'm trying to say is he's kind of earned the right to get some playing time, so you'll see him in and out of there and we're gonna have to use him. As one guy goes down, you know, other guys' responsibilities go up. That'll happen to Chris."

Spagnuolo cites Roland-Wallace's versatility and experience as things that helped him turn heads during the offseason program and training camp.

"We really didn't know a lot about him, knew he was a good football [player]," Spagnuolo said. "He did play some nickel, he had played some safety but he was mainly a corner. I think at the time, we had a lot of corner numbers and Chris played a lot more safety in training camp than he actually played nickel and corner. What was impressive to me was how smart he was. Here's a guy that goes from playing outside in college and some nickel to playing safety, which is not easy in any system.

"That impressed me, and then he started making plays. He made them in training camp, he made them in practice against our offense and then he just slowly kind of climbed. Somewhere in there, I remember saying, 'We need to put him at nickel and see what he can do there.' And then he excelled at that spot. It didn't seem real big to him. I was really impressed with the way he handled it."

In terms of directly replacing Watson, Roland-Wallace likely won't be in that mix. Nazeeh Johnson will get the first crack at that, followed by Joshua Williams. Spagnuolo implied that it isn't a question of whether the rookie could fulfill that role but with him transitioning to that slot/nickel spot full-time, it'd be asking a lot for things to suddenly switch up.

Safety Chamarri Conner's play as a nickel piece should also keep Roland-Wallace from being overwhelmed. He's just 16 defensive snaps into his NFL career and while that number should increase at least a bit in the near future, it won't skyrocket. Despite that, Spagnuolo and Co. are quite impressed.

Read More: Chiefs Restructure Jawaan Taylor's Contract to Create Cap Room