The Kansas City Chiefs will be shorthanded in the secondary for Week 8’s game against the Denver Broncos.

Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed landed on injured reserve with a nagging knee injury, and rookie CB Mansoor Delane has been ruled out with a recurring shoulder injury. That means the Chiefs will be without two of their top secondary defenders.

Typically, that type of absence would raise some alarm bells. However, Kansas City has a fairly deep defensive backfield. One player in particular is poised to see more action against Denver after making plays in limited snaps over the past few weeks.

Who is Chiefs DB Chris Roland-Wallace?

Chris Roland-Wallace joined the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Southern California in 2024. Since then, he’s appeared in 34 games with five starts, recording 81 total tackles, five passes defended, a forced fumble, and two interceptions.

He’s most notably been a fill-in at the slot cornerback position this year. Even so, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has made a point of describing him in a few simple words:

“Jack of all trades.”

Spagnuolo has also called Roland-Wallace a stabilizing force in the team’s secondary. The reason is simple. The coaching staff trusts him to play multiple positions.

“Listen, I think I’ve said this before,” Spagnuolo said on Thursday. “I mean, (CB Chris Roland-Wallace) he’s done a lot of things for us. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Chris. If he’s got to go in there, we just roll with him. He does everything. You don’t see all these walkthroughs, but he’s out there. He plays safety, gets reps at safety, gets reps at nickel, gets reps at dime. So, when you put a guy in a lot of different spots, I think that kind of says it all, that we’re pretty confident in what he can do.”

Right now, Kansas City needs him to find a home at nickel while the defense works around the injuries to Sneed and Delane.

What the Chiefs’ secondary should look like in Week 8

Realistically, Roland-Wallace should be the team’s starting nickel corner this week whenever the Chiefs have three corners on the field. That grouping should feature Nohl Williams, Kristian Fulton, and Roland-Wallace.

The Chiefs also signed CB Melvin Smith Jr. to the 53-man roster. He could serve as depth and spell any of those three players at a given time.

According to Spagnuolo, the team is confident in Roland-Wallace and his ability to do whatever is asked of him, at whatever position is asked of him. That being said, he has never played an outsized portion of the team’s defensive snaps.

His highest snap share came during his rookie season. In Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he played 50 defensive snaps, which accounted for 66.7% of the team’s total defensive snaps.

Chris Roland-Wallace’s snap counts are trending up

Roland-Wallace has seen his workload grow over his last three games for Kansas City:

• Week 4 vs. Raiders: 29 defensive snaps
• Week 6 vs. Chargers: 20 defensive snaps
• Week 7 vs. Seahawks: 31 defensive snaps

That last outing against the Seattle Seahawks was his most productive of the year. He recorded a pass defended and five combined tackles, his season-high.

The production is there in small doses. The question is what Roland-Wallace looks like when he’s asked to carry a starter’s workload against an opponent that won’t let up.

With the Chiefs shorthanded, it’s time for Spagnuolo to put his money where his mouth is and play Roland-Wallace like a true starter. Kansas City should see what he can do with a full dose of snaps. It’ll come against a Broncos team that has a whole lot to prove on their home turf after Week 1’s disappointment in Kansas City.