Steve Spagnuolo Assesses Christian Roland-Wallace's Performance in Starting Debut

With the postseason on the horizon, the Kansas City Chiefs continue to tweak their rotations in the secondary. Part of that has been due to a revolving cornerback No. 2 situation, but Chamarri Conner's concussion required someone else to step into the nickel position in Week 16.

That man was undrafted rookie free agent Christian Roland-Wallace, who has played a more significant role than just about anyone anticipated in year one. Anyone but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, that is.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Spagnuolo praised Roland-Wallace for taking care of business in Kansas City's weekend win over the visiting Houston Texans.

"I thought he did a great job," Spagnuolo said. "He's been one of those guys that I've been really hopeful for all season long. The more reps he gets, the better he gets. He's a really smart, intelligent football player with some instincts. He's played special teams for Dave (Toub). I'm happy for him. He'll probably tell you that he made one key mistake that we could fix because that's all he could think about at the end of the game. I told him, 'Look, think about the other good plays that you made because you played 30-something plays for us.' I thought he did a solid job going in there and filling in for Chamarri."

In his starting debut, Roland-Wallace recorded a pair of tackles and played a season-high 46 snaps. A whopping 32 of those were on the defensive side of the ball, topping his previous career-best total from Week 8 by one. While the former USC and Arizona standout earned just a 46.7 Pro Football Focus coverage grade for his efforts, he got tremendous marks for run defense (81.3) and tackling (74.8). One specific play, a second-down run stuff against Joe Mixon for a loss of a yard, stands out as a difference-maker from Saturday.

It wasn't going to take much for Roland-Wallace to provide comparable play to what Conner has done this season. After all, the latter has surrendered an 80% completion rate and a 96.8 passer rating in coverage with most of those coming from a slot alignment pre-snap. Between that and Conner's many missed tackles, all Roland-Wallace had to do was keep the action in front of him and wrap up whoever had the ball. He passed that test thanks to his preparation and Spagnuolo occasionally weaponizing Trent McDuffie in that same spot (10 slot snaps in Week 16).

Conner, a non-participant in practice on the Chiefs' estimated practice report for Sunday, will almost surely be given his job back when he's healthy. If he can't play on Christmas Day against the Pittsburgh Steelers, though, it could signal another week of Roland-Wallace getting valuable reps at the nickel position. That's huge for the rookie as he soon enters the first playoff run of his young career.

It's also a big deal for Spagnuolo, who made it clear months ago that Roland-Wallace earns every opportunity he gets. He expects the 23-year-old to make the most of those chances.

Read More: Winners and Losers from the KC Chiefs' Week 16 Victory Over the Houston Texans