How The Kansas City Chiefs Were Drawn To George Karlaftis

During the pre-draft process, many of the Kansas City Chiefs coaches — including defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, defensive line coach Joe Cullen and assistant defensive line coach Terry Bradden — had a Zoom meeting with defensive end prospect George Karlaftis.

Cullen asked many of the questions, but Spagnuolo carefully observed Karlaftis’ body language.

“There was something about him that I said, ‘Boy, if we could get this kind of person in here,’” Spagnuolo said. “This guy was just so into what we were talking about. He didn’t want to get off the Zoom call. He wanted more questions.”

The Chiefs coaches tested Karlaftis’ football knowledge and watched a lot of film with him.

“I felt like we had a great connection,” Karlaftis said.

When you paired how Karlaftis aced the virtual interview with his production at Purdue, where he recorded 99 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, one interception and four forced fumbles, he was the perfect person for the Chiefs to select with the 30th overall — and second of their first-round picks — choice.

“It was a no-brainer,” Cullen said. “Thankfully, he fell to that spot.”

The descriptor most associated with Karlaftis has been high motor, and he has demonstrated that from the get-go. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid even had to tell him to slow down during organized team activities.

Karlaftis continued to flash potential during minicamp. On the first day, he used his speed to get past right tackle Andrew Wylie and pressure quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Since minicamp doesn’t feature live tackling, Karlaftis was asked if he looked forward to bringing Mahomes to the ground during training camp.

“I’ll never come close to Patrick Mahomes,” Karlaftis said, laughing. “I’ll never come close to him.”

While Mahomes is the superstar who makes the offense go, defensive lineman Chris Jones is the defense’s best player.

“He has this aura about him if you will,” Karlaftis said. “I’m just trying to learn from him. Playing next to him is just so great because he does so many great things on the field, and you can work off of him.”

Last year Jones started at defensive end, but he and the team had more success when the Chiefs returned him to his more natural defensive tackle position.

That means the starting job is there for the taking in the present — and the future.

Frank Clark, who initially signed a five-year, $104 million contract with the Chiefs in 2019, is slated as the other starting defensive end. But he slumped to 4.5 sacks last year, has missed the first two days of minicamp and his two-year, restructured contract has an out where the Chiefs only would owe him about $9 million if they released him after the 2022 season.

The Chiefs are counting on Karlaftis to bolster a pass rush, which finished fourth worst in the NFL with 31 sacks in 2021 and no longer has Melvin Ingram.

Jones, who messaged Karlaftis on social media the day after the draft, has been impressed with Karlaftis through the first two days of minicamp.

“He’s a high energy guy,” Jones said. “He’s willing to learn, always looking for ways to get better.”

Karlaftis, who lost 10 to 15 pounds during the pre-draft process from his listed weight of 275 pounds, is focusing on his fundamentals.

Minicamp wraps up Thursday. How will Karlaftis spend his time off until training camp in late July?

“(I’m) just gonna be training as hard as I can,” he said. “That’s it.”

That sounds like the player who displayed such high-character attributes during his Zoom meeting.

“He just looked real hungry to me and (a) guy that was passionate about the game of football,” Spagnuolo said. “And I think that’s exactly what we got.”