Chiefs DE George Karlaftis one away from 10-sack milestone
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs have a gem in defensive end George Karlaftis.
The 22-year-old has 15 sacks in his first 31 regular season games and is one sack away from hitting 10 sacks in just his second year in the NFL.
Karlaftis said that double-digit sacks are always something that any pass rusher aspires to achieve. But he credits his teammates and DL coach Joe Cullen for his improved numbers this season.
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“Those guys really help me,” he said Friday.
Star defensive tackle Chris Jones is the center of the versatile Chiefs defense that sees Karlaftis play on the interior on passing downs and rushing off the edge.
“He creates so much penetration when you know how to play off of each other then good things usually happen,” Karlaftis said.
The Purdue product is tied for fifth most sacks in a player’s first two seasons in franchise history. With a half sack, he can pass Art Still (15.0) for sole possession of fifth most and with one more, he can pass Justin Houston and Tamba Hali (15.5) for third-most across a player’s first two seasons in franchise history.
Karlaftis was the Chiefs’ last first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft after the Chiefs traded up for cornerback Trent McDuffie who has been on a meteoric rise as one of the best corners in the NFL.
“Young, relentless, dedicated to his craft,” general manager Brett Veach said on draft night after picking McDuffie and Karlaftis.
“All the people that we spoke to at Purdue just said all of his best football is in front of him. He had a water polo background, being born in Athens (Greece), getting to come over here with a late start to football, he picked it up quick. “
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“One thing that is common in everyone that you talk to about George is his approach to the game and how important it is to him,” Veach continued. “I certainly think (Defensive line) Coach (Joe) Cullen and (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Steve Spagnuolo) ‘Spags’ are going to be able to take him to the next level.”
“He’s a guy that can play all along the line. His approach, the way he prepares week‐in and week‐out and his upside were just something that we thought it was good value there (at pick No. 30).”
Jones also gave some interesting tidbits about Karlaftis on Thursday when he told the media that the former Academic All-Big 10 member got a 32 on his ACT score in high school.
Jones even gifted Karlaftis with a certificate for his achievement in the spirit of Christmas.
The leader of the DL always has jokes for his teammates and others but he is also always their biggest cheerleader.
“He needs to get 10. We’ve been talking about it all week,” Jones said Thursday.
“I think it was one of his goals coming in this season to make sure he has double digits, and I want to push him to get that. He works so hard during the season, during the offseason, me and him talk about it a lot. I think it would be another milestone in his career to reach that.”
“We have three more games left, and I think he’s able to do it, I think it would be tremendous for not only his confidence and his game moving forward but give him something to build off of.”
The former water polo player has built an array of pass-rush moves that have aided his success.
At 6’4, 265 pounds, he has a good burst off the snap and has the strength to toss offensive linemen around, has the speed to beat them to the corner and bend around them (lack of bend was a knock on him during the draft process).
He has built his hand-fighting skills to swipe offensive linemen’s hands in a variation of ways, he can use one arm to separate himself from the OL and has learned the intelligence to fake that move and rip underneath the OL’s arm to go past him as well.
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Born in Greece, Karlaftis only began playing football in eighth grade and started in 27 games and collected 14.5 sacks as a Boilermaker.
He also started every single game as a rookie including in the postseason on the way to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. Karlaftis started the game but he also split snaps with veteran Carlos Dunlap down the stretch.
Last season, ‘Furious George’ played less than 60% of the defensive snaps in nine games including in every playoff game. This season, Karlaftis has played more than 60% of the defensive snaps in every single game.
His relentless pursuit of the ball and endurance were a plus for Karlaftis coming out of Purdue and it shows every week on the field.
To make that happen, Karlaftis said running a lot and lifting heavy are just a few of the keys.
“Guys typically say ‘It’s like he’s training like he’s still in college,'” he said. “A lot of guys get away from that, but I train maybe even harder than that than when I was in college.”
“If you’re out there and you’re not playing as hard as you possibly can, what are you doing? Just try to leave all on the field every single Sunday and I have Monday to rest usually so that helps.
This seems like a lot of experience but Jones and Cullen see that he has even more room to learn and grow into one of the Chiefs’ best first-round picks in recent memory.
“I think he still [has] a lot to learn. I think he’s still learning,” Jones said. “He’s improving and that’s all you can ask to improve every year, year in and year out and sky’s the limit for you if you continue to do that.
“Like I told him, you continue to like double your sack count, oh my God, you gonna kick me to the curb out of this place man,” Jones said with a laugh.
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“I think if you go back to a year ago, we had to play him (George Karlaftis) early, he just kept getting better and better,” Cullen said. “I think that trend has continued. He works hard at his craft.”
“I’m a cheerleader for George man,” Jones said. “I want him to excel.”
