Chiefs pick up 5th year options for McDuffie and Karlaftis

[wazu]

Sources: The #Chiefs plan to pick up the fifth-year options of corner Trent McDuffie and pass rusher George Karlaftis. Team submitting them today.

Two team pillars now in the fold for 2026.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 29, 2025

[rocknrolla]

[QUOTE=RealSNR;18072825]Jared was already a beast in KC. We knew what we were trading, and Allen didn’t get substantially better in Minnesota… he was his usual dominant self over a long period of time.

That’s a bit different than letting Karlaftis

completely another conversation.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Not sure what some of you guys are thinking. George isn't going anywhere. He turned 24 in early April and he's already probably a top-20 DE in this league.

The Chiefs Struck Gold With George Karlaftis
Story by Dominic Minchella May 25 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs landed two players in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft who have been nothing but stellar since their arrival. Taking cornerback Trent McDuffie with the 22nd overall pick has panned out extremely well, but since day one, George Karlaftis has been a star for Kansas City's franchise.

Karlaftis alongside McDuffie both had their fifth-year options exercised earlier this offseason by the Chiefs' front office. The two have been key additions to the defense. Karlaftis, though, from being the 30th overall pick, has become one of the best defensive ends in the National Football League.

In three seasons thus far with the Chiefs, all while doing so under the age of 24, Karlaftis has collected 24.5 quarterback sacks, along with 115 total tackles, 15 passes defended, and 13 stuffs, all in 49 regular season games.

Karlaftis has also shone for the Chiefs during their playoff games. In 10 playoff games, the Chiefs' defensive end has collected 36 total tackles and has brought down the quarterback eight times, four of which came this past season.

His production has been stellar enough to land him as the most underrated defensive end in the NFL, according to ESPN's Aaron Schatz.

"If you want to find an underrated edge rusher, there's a general rule to follow: Look for someone who ranks a lot higher in pressures than sacks. That means he's getting to the quarterback and causing negative plays for the opponent, even if he isn't getting the press," Schatz wrote.

"In 2024, Karlaftis was that guy. He followed up a 10.5-sack season in 2023 with eight sacks last season, but his pressure total was far more impressive. Karlaftis was tied for 14th in the NFL with 44 pressures. He added 11 more pressures in three playoff games and had three sacks against the Texans in the AFC divisional round."

Going into the final year of his rookie deal, before he will see an increased payday from his fifth-year option, the Chiefs will look for Karlaftis to continue his upward trend of success. The two-time Super Bowl champion will also look to add more individual accolades to his resume this season, in the form of a potential Pro Bowl or an All-Pro nod.

[kccrow]

In terms of affecting the QB, Karlaftis' career trajectory is in the middle of Hali and Allen, leaning towards Allen.

Allen had 27.5 sacks after 3 seasons, while Hali had 19.5. Karlaftis has hit the QB a lot more than Hali as well, at 56 to 24. No stats on Allen in his first two years, but he had 15 in year 3, so it's likely somewhere around the same or even slightly less than George.

Hali didn't produce double-digit sacks until his fifth year in the league. If George can become a guy who gets 11+ sacks every season, which isn't asking for much of a jump, and play seven good seasons yet, he'll easily be over 100 sacks. The only thing George really falls behind in is tackles.

I cannot agree with any talk of him not being worth a second contract here.

[Kiimo]

Tamba was kind of meh until he started doing Jiu Jitsu so I'm glad Furious George started doing that immediately.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Tamba Hali is not in the hall of fame.

Meant yes it’s a stretch*

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

Not sure what some of you guys are thinking. George isn't going anywhere. He turned 24 in early April and he's already probably a top-20 DE in this league.

The Chiefs Struck Gold With George Karlaftis
Story by Dominic Minchella May 25 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs landed two players in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft who have been nothing but stellar since their arrival. Taking cornerback Trent McDuffie with the 22nd overall pick has panned out extremely well, but since day one, George Karlaftis has been a star for Kansas City's franchise.

Karlaftis alongside McDuffie both had their fifth-year options exercised earlier this offseason by the Chiefs' front office. The two have been key additions to the defense. Karlaftis, though, from being the 30th overall pick, has become one of the best defensive ends in the National Football League.

In three seasons thus far with the Chiefs, all while doing so under the age of 24, Karlaftis has collected 24.5 quarterback sacks, along with 115 total tackles, 15 passes defended, and 13 stuffs, all in 49 regular season games.

Karlaftis has also shone for the Chiefs during their playoff games. In 10 playoff games, the Chiefs' defensive end has collected 36 total tackles and has brought down the quarterback eight times, four of which came this past season.

His production has been stellar enough to land him as the most underrated defensive end in the NFL, according to ESPN's Aaron Schatz.

"If you want to find an underrated edge rusher, there's a general rule to follow: Look for someone who ranks a lot higher in pressures than sacks. That means he's getting to the quarterback and causing negative plays for the opponent, even if he isn't getting the press," Schatz wrote.

"In 2024, Karlaftis was that guy. He followed up a 10.5-sack season in 2023 with eight sacks last season, but his pressure total was far more impressive. Karlaftis was tied for 14th in the NFL with 44 pressures. He added 11 more pressures in three playoff games and had three sacks against the Texans in the AFC divisional round."

Going into the final year of his rookie deal, before he will see an increased payday from his fifth-year option, the Chiefs will look for Karlaftis to continue his upward trend of success. The two-time Super Bowl champion will also look to add more individual accolades to his resume this season, in the form of a potential Pro Bowl or an All-Pro nod.

Nobody's thinking they don't like the player.

Everyone's thinking they may have to choose between Karlaftis and McDuffie.

[Kiimo]

I think Chiefs fans are constantly having this debate. No possible way we can afford Chris Jones with a Mahomes contract. Yet, here we are.

If they want to keep McDuffie and Karlaftis they will find a way. Consider that Chris Jones and Kelce are two contracts coming off the books at some point here

[ThyKingdomCome15]

They do seem nice.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Nobody's thinking they don't like the player.

Everyone's thinking they may have to choose between Karlaftis and McDuffie.

If that's the case then trading McDuffie makes the most sense on multiple levels.

-Veach turns coal into diamonds at the CB position annually. It's highly impressive.
-George won't command near as much money to extend.
-McDuffie will bring in a significantly greater haul like Tyreek.
-Once Danna and Omenihu leave DE will be a far greater need.
-CB's that excel in nickel don't have the same value as outside CB's. You can get a good one in the second round. Sneed was a fourth round pick and did excellent for three seasons.

I'd love to see Veach make it work considering we'll have some big money coming off the books when Kelce leaves and the salary cap continuing to rise. But if a team puts a nice package of picks on the table McDuffie is still only one player at a fairly expendable position for this team. Fortunately that's not a concern for this season.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Kiimo

I think Chiefs fans are constantly having this debate. No possible way we can afford Chris Jones with a Mahomes contract. Yet, here we are.

If they want to keep McDuffie and Karlaftis they will find a way. Consider that Chris Jones and Kelce are two contracts coming off the books at some point here

Jones is signed until 2028, and they can't get out of it until at least 2027, and that's eating almost $20m.

Yeah, Kelce's off the books this year.

But you think we can pay Mahomes AND Jones, AND a top of the market DE AND a top of the market CB?

I don't.

And we let Sneed go rather than pay him-and half of this board lost it's minds.

Better get used to it. It's hard to stay on top.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by ThyKingdomCome15

If that's the case then trading McDuffie makes the most sense on multiple levels.

-Veach turns coal into diamonds at the CB position annually. It's highly impressive.
-George won't command near as much money to extend.
-McDuffie will bring in a significantly greater haul like Tyreek.
-Once Danna and Omenihu leave DE will be a far greater need.
-CB's that excel in nickel don't have the same value as outside CB's. You can get a good one in the second round. Sneed was a fourth round pick and did excellent for three seasons.

I'd love to see Veach make it work considering we'll have some big money coming off the books when Kelce leaves and the salary cap continuing to rise. But if a team puts a nice package of picks on the table McDuffie is still only one player at a fairly expendable position for this team. Fortunately that's not a concern for this season.

I don't disagree with any of that.