*****The George Karlaftis Thread*****

[Dante84]

More to come!

What are the #Chiefs getting in George Karlaftis?

Had an NFC Personnel executive tell me “He reminds me of J.J. Watt, when Watt was coming out. An explosive and versatile playmaker who has a high motor and can line up at 3,5, or 7. Very strong kid” #NFL #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/5qM3g6OrMr

— Matt Lombardo (@MattLombardoNFL) April 29, 2022

George Karlaftis was drafted with pick 30 of round 1 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.23 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 116 out of 1503 DE from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/iXXBvnoFJc #RAS #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/eZ9XjNRDUB

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 29, 2022

“I was sitting there the whole night hoping we’d be able to get you.”

Karlaftis gets the call �� pic.twitter.com/DRGBDekvnl

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 29, 2022

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

We'll see.

He played a ton in that Tampa game and was playing a fair amount before he got hurt vs. the Raiders. And it was not a bad idea to slow-roll ANOTHER rookie into the defensive backfield where we could.

I suspect we'll see 3-safety looks about 40% of the time as a general rule going forward.

But I do agree that we had FAR greater priorities and that was my greatest frustration with the Cook pick at the time. Deon Bush is a solid player. He's probably better than Cook right now anyway. And I don't see Cook as a guy who can replace Thornhill going forward because he's not a single-high guy.

It just seemed like we created a need that didn't really exist. At least not yet. Then again, with Sneed/Fenton/McDuffie as your 1-3 coming out of the first round, and Fenton's injury history (not to mention McDuffie being a rookie), maybe they just weren't confident that a standard Nickel was a strong package. There's no way they expected Watson to be this significant a contributor and probably not even Williams.

But yeah, I definitely would not have gone with Cook there. The need on the DL was just too great and too obvious.

You don't get to where we are without a significant amount of BPA philosophy as well. I'm guessing that played into it as well as potentially losing Thornhill .

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

That's the thing, I realize this isn't a top 15 defense but.. a starting rookie DE, rookie LB getting significant snaps, 2 rookie corners starting plus one coming back from IR and a rookie safety getting a good bit of run. It's really kind of impressive that they aren't worse than they have been.

The rookies have been really good and they're going to get better. Props to Spags et al.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

either nnadi is playing hurt or mailing it in because they haven't tried to resign him

which would be odd for a guy in a contract year

His contract year was last year and Reed was brought in to replace him. Veach brought him back on a one year prove it deal and he’s proving he doesn’t belong in the NFL.

I fully expect Denver to sign him this offseason.

It’s probably safe to say Nnadi is done and that we will bring up Shelton soon snd quite possibly perSUH a DT as a next man up.

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Film study on our boy George. Turns out he's been more effective than we've been giving him credit for:

I agree with some of his assessments, but others seem to indicate he’s not looking at it for a true assessment.

For instance, the stretch zone against Indy. He’s trying to show the play as an example of good run defense, when George’s responsibility on outside runs is to contain the run from getting outside. George immediately takes a step inside on the play and takes on Nelson…we were just lucky that the back didn’t get outside because he had 2 blocks set up out there with only Sneed to defend the outside.

Obviously I don’t know the playcall, but if I was going to have a critique of George’s game this far, it’s that he kinda sucks out loud at contain and the teams run defense suffers because of it. He can’t keep letting OTs go past him and needs to do a better job of getting outside snd forcing the play inside a lot more so the linebackers and DTs can clean up.

[Hammock Parties]

GREEK FIRE

... sometimes I fully understand it. pic.twitter.com/ACmjPe5RvD

— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) November 8, 2022

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

GREEK FIRE

... sometimes I fully understand it. pic.twitter.com/ACmjPe5RvD

— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) November 8, 2022

While his display of strength in this clip is outstanding, he needs to do a better job of not letting the play get outside of him. He’s improving in that area, but instead of pushing that TE outside, and instead pushes him upfield, it disrupts the run and allows a good angle to the swab if it’s PA.

[RunKC]

4 pressures against Tennessee. He flashed a lot.

Good rush here.

Karlaftis always gets the pressure but never the sack pic.twitter.com/QdBz1s1H5I

— ���������� (@LockdownSneed) November 8, 2022

Effort play. Nice rebound from miscalculating.

Quick recognition by Karlaftis to stop the RB pic.twitter.com/Tw0tjSPGU8

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) November 7, 2022

He would have gotten a lot of credit here if Chris ****ing Jones doesn’t line up in the goddamn neutral zone. He ruined this play.

Karlaftis saving a TD (offsides gives a first down tho) with the swipe and pressure pic.twitter.com/5NCze2De4z

— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) November 7, 2022

Oh and as Clay’s gif showed…don’t put a TE on him or George will destroy him

... sometimes I fully understand it. pic.twitter.com/ACmjPe5RvD

— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) November 8, 2022

[staylor26]

Probably his best game yet.

[RunKC]

He got pressure on 25% of Willis’ throws

He’s been so close to sacking QB’s. Dude had his hands on Willis on the 2nd to last play of the game. So close

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by BossChief

His contract year was last year and Reed was brought in to replace him. Veach brought him back on a one year prove it deal and he’s proving he doesn’t belong in the NFL.

I fully expect Denver to sign him this offseason.

It’s probably safe to say Nnadi is done and that we will bring up Shelton soon snd quite possibly perSUH a DT as a next man up.


I agree with some of his assessments, but others seem to indicate he’s not looking at it for a true assessment.

For instance, the stretch zone against Indy. He’s trying to show the play as an example of good run defense, when George’s responsibility on outside runs is to contain the run from getting outside. George immediately takes a step inside on the play and takes on Nelson…we were just lucky that the back didn’t get outside because he had 2 blocks set up out there with only Sneed to defend the outside.

Obviously I don’t know the playcall, but if I was going to have a critique of George’s game this far, it’s that he kinda sucks out loud at contain and the teams run defense suffers because of it. He can’t keep letting OTs go past him and needs to do a better job of getting outside snd forcing the play inside a lot more so the linebackers and DTs can clean up.

Strongly agree on the last point re the run. That's the area I really want and expect to see some improvement by the season's end.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

GREEK FIRE

... sometimes I fully understand it. pic.twitter.com/ACmjPe5RvD

— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) November 8, 2022

He tossed a TE...he's kinda supposed to do that, no?

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by RunKC

He got pressure on 25% of Willis’ throws

He’s been so close to sacking QB’s. Dude had his hands on Willis on the 2nd to last play of the game. So close

Must be something wrong with his hands and arms then since he never actually gets sacks. Did the same thing in college.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Must be something wrong with his hands and arms then since he never actually gets sacks. Did the same thing in college.

Nah. Mostly he's about a half step slow getting to the QB from what I've seen. In short, he's still learning how to play at NFL speed. He's still thinking instead of just playing, so he's a beat slow yet. He'll be quicker as the season goes on and even more so next season. But even being a step slow, he's racking up a lot of QB pressures and hits, not to mention his solid play vs. the run so far.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Must be something wrong with his hands and arms then since he never actually gets sacks. Did the same thing in college.

Or maybe he is forcing the QB to throw early-like he did in San Fran, which caused an INT.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

We'll see.

He played a ton in that Tampa game and was playing a fair amount before he got hurt vs. the Raiders. And it was not a bad idea to slow-roll ANOTHER rookie into the defensive backfield where we could.

I suspect we'll see 3-safety looks about 40% of the time as a general rule going forward.

But I do agree that we had FAR greater priorities and that was my greatest frustration with the Cook pick at the time. Deon Bush is a solid player. He's probably better than Cook right now anyway. And I don't see Cook as a guy who can replace Thornhill going forward because he's not a single-high guy.

It just seemed like we created a need that didn't really exist. At least not yet. Then again, with Sneed/Fenton/McDuffie as your 1-3 coming out of the first round, and Fenton's injury history (not to mention McDuffie being a rookie), maybe they just weren't confident that a standard Nickel was a strong package. There's no way they expected Watson to be this significant a contributor and probably not even Williams.

But yeah, I definitely would not have gone with Cook there. The need on the DL was just too great and too obvious.

As someone who wasn’t thrilled with the Bryan Cook pick, I see why they drafted him. It wasn’t just to replace Daniel Sorenson but also to replace some of Juan Thornhill’s role. And I think he can. The guy was a corner for years before he became a safety. He also played a lot of roles in college. He’s probably a TE matchup but he did play in the slot in college too.

Juan is a pretty solid pass defender but he is so bad vs the run. He gets scared and can’t make the tackles needed.

Still need help up front but again Spags wanted the secondary shored up first.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Nah. Mostly he's about a half step slow getting to the QB from what I've seen. In short, he's still learning how to play at NFL speed. He's still thinking instead of just playing, so he's a beat slow yet. He'll be quicker as the season goes on and even more so next season. But even being a step slow, he's racking up a lot of QB pressures and hits, not to mention his solid play vs. the run so far.

His get-off has been pretty damn amazing. Eventually, that's going to pay off.