George Karlaftis

[kccrow]

I can't stop fixating on this guy in the first round. The more I see him in the early 20's in mocks, the more I want KC to make the deal to go get this kid.

He reminds me of Ryan Kerrigan and Justin Smith. If he's somewhere in between, he'd be well worth a 20-ish pick. I just like his game. Great power in his punch. Good hand usage. Alot of moves but a staggering bull rush. Great feet. Excellent burst off the snap. What he doesn't have is great bend and agility which negates his speed rush.

But those traits, the ones involving power and speed-to-power, those win in the NFL. I don't care about his 40 time. He ran faster than the Bosa brothers. It's fine. He has elite vertical and broad jumps and a respectable bench press. I just imagine the day he gets stronger, and he will. If he learns to use better power rush technique, he's going to be very solid.

I think a lot of the lack of sacks this past year was the volume of double-teams and no other real threat on Purdue's defense. You watch his games though and he's putting tackles in the dirt. He's getting hits on the QB. He had a solid win rate as a pass rusher.

I love this guy as a SDE prospect. I want him to be a Chief. If you can go out and get a Sam Williams in the 2nd to pair with this guy as a bendier, more athletic WDE, I think you'll have an incredible pair of bookends for the foreseeable future.

So, am I missing something? Do I not see some fatal flaw?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kccrow

It would be relatively counter-productive to trade a potential HOF WR to turn around and trade the best part of the compensation for a lesser WR. I'm not even sure who would be on the market that would command that at this point. The same goes for DE.

Most of the teams that needed to clear cap have done so and those that haven't don't have those types of guys to trade, unless you think the Titans are trading us AJ Brown or the 49ers are trading us Nick Bosa.

O.City believes that late 1st round picks have no value.

And simultaneously that teams can/should trade us superstar players for them.

I don't get him sometimes...

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

O.City believes that late 1st round picks have no value.

And simultaneously that teams can/should trade us superstar players for them.

I don't get him sometimes...

Rubics cube of logic.

[bsp4444]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's funny, but if you kick around the mock drafts, you'll find the Chiefs have so much damn draft capital they can go after 3 DL and 3 WRs and still be able to get a DB and LB that can probably play early in the season. And that's without doing any trade-downs to get additional day 2 capital.

That's a lot of contracts due at once. I wonder if we do trade down, do we add some picks next year to sort of spread this out.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by bsp4444

That's a lot of contracts due at once. I wonder if we do trade down, do we add some picks next year to sort of spread this out.

They won't all hit.

That's why you use all the picks.

Of the 8 picks in the first 4 rounds, if 4 of those guys earn a 2nd contract, you're in REALLY good shape. And hell, if more of them do, you got 4 years of dirt-cheap production out of them and now have trade assets going into year 4 or at least someone that can help you with comp pick calculations.

It's not something worth worrying about when you have about 1/2 a roster under contract for the coming season.

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I'm still torn between Karlaftis and Cam Thomas.

Why not both?

Originally Posted by bsp4444

That's a lot of contracts due at once. I wonder if we do trade down, do we add some picks next year to sort of spread this out.

Or just trade some of the players in the last year of the deal, 3-4 years from now, for more assets. Lots of options.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by bsp4444

That's a lot of contracts due at once. I wonder if we do trade down, do we add some picks next year to sort of spread this out.

All the more reason to keep 2 picks in the 1st so we have a couple 5th year options.

[BossChief]

If we don’t think Ojabo is a good risk/reward, I’d love to see us get Karlaftis, Cam Thomas AND Sam Williams. That sets this teams pass rush up for the forseable future while replacing what used to be “a dog” in Clark to “a dog” in Williams.

Those 3 in rotation staying fresh would be amazing value.

[htismaqe]

I don't think they take 3 edge rushers in one draft. That seems a little extreme.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I don't think they take 3 edge rushers in one draft. That seems a little extreme.

I think it's two and a veteran.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

I like Karlaftis a lot, but I don't think he makes it past the Cardinals or one of the Eagles 1st round picks, so if we want him we better be prepared to move up.

[CatfishBob2]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I don't think they take 3 edge rushers in one draft. That seems a little extreme.

I see two and maybe a dart at an RAS freak late

Throw some competition in there to complete the overhaul of this DL

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

I like Karlaftis a lot, but I don't think he makes it past the Cardinals or one of the Eagles 1st round picks, so if we want him we better be prepared to move up.

I like Karlaftis but I'm not trading up into the teens for him. I'm not trading into the teens for anybody really...

[Kellerfox]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I think it's two and a veteran.

I could see two early plus an additional one with one of our 7ths.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I like Karlaftis but I'm not trading up into the teens for him. I'm not trading into the teens for anybody really...

Yeah this is kind of where I'm at too.

[kccrow]

Putting this in here instead of in the first round mock thread...

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

High floor, try hard in Karlaftis not a gamewrecker which is what you trade up for like Wyatt who is a badass.

George doesn't play like Kerrigan if anything Hali was a Kerrigan clone.

Furthermore the way he rushes won't work as an NFL DE consistently unless he's the second coming of Reggie White or prime JJ Watt.

That's why I like Cam Thomas because he does play like a bigger Hali/Kerrigan

This was literally the worst game of his career because they wanted him to keep using a speed rush to the outside, which isn't the way he should be used, and you picked it as your end-all-be-all example of him being a terrible player? Don't cherry-pick a bad game. I can cherry-pick a shit show from every favorite on the list sans maybe Hutchinson's 2021 tape. I'm fine with you using it as an example of his weakness, but you should also be talking about his strengths and presenting that tape if you're going here.

Players that can power rush are absolutely the top rushers year-over-year in the NFL, not speed rushers. There are a few speedy standouts, but they are rare commodities. Ideally, you have a guy with power that can bend a bit better but it's hard to get it all in one package.

Do I wish Karlaftis could bend better? Yes. I think he can be taught a few things to help him out. The guys behind him though have much more significant overall issues in their games.

My next guy would be Sam Williams from a talent perspective but he has some power issues at this stage. I love his potential, but he has to get stronger and develop much more of a power rush for the NFL and he has to set the edge against the run much better (like most coming from college).

Cam Thomas is virtually the same guy as Karlaftis. I like him a lot but very much the same issues and less developed hand play.

Ebiketie doesn't really fit a 4-3 very well. I see him as a 3-4 OLB. He's a guy I like a ton but I do worry about his ability to set the edge in the NFL in an even front.

Mafe is kind of in that group of guys without a lot of bend but I think he has more than Karlaftis and Thomas. That said I don't think he comes with the same power. He's a nice player but very, very inconsistent. I don't like his production overall. If you can get him to be consistent he could turn out to be a better pro. I don't like his age but its' not a complete deal-breaker. I'd be fine with him as the pick, but he comes with some significant bust potential in my eyes.

After this group, I think there's a very big drop-off again either in athleticism or development and I'm really not about to talk about them this early.