George Karlaftis, Chiefs Defense Look to Rebound After Missing 2025 Playoffs
The Kansas City Chiefs are grinding through training camp at Missouri Western State University, and George Karlaftis wants everyone to know this year feels different. Not because the drills changed. Because the stakes did.
Kansas City finished 6-11 last season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and posting a losing record for the first time since 2012, according to team records. Nine of their 11 losses came by seven points or fewer. Then, in Week 15, Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL against the Los Angeles Chargers, ending his season and any lingering playoff hope.
That’s the backdrop for Karlaftis and this defense as they retool for 2026. The fifth-year edge rusher spoke about the team’s mentality heading into the season, framing it as a collective reset up front.
“This year is all about mindset and mentality for us. We feel like it starts with our group. It starts upfront. We can take this defense wherever we want as a front,” Karlaftis said, per 104.7 The Cave.
He added that stopping the run and clearing space for the linebackers and defensive backs is the group’s early focus, with an eye on getting the pass rush back to form.
A Defense Trying to Find Its Bite Again
Karlaftis has been part of the Chiefs’ core since Kansas City drafted him 30th overall out of Purdue in 2022. He’s started every regular-season game he’s been available for and has posted at least six sacks in each of his four NFL seasons: 6.0 as a rookie, 10.5 in 2023, 8.0 in 2024, and 6.0 last year, per Pro Football Reference.
Last season didn’t go the way Karlaftis or the Chiefs wanted. He opened 2025 with 4.5 sacks through his first five games and looked like he might set a career high. Then production slowed. He finished with 48 tackles and 6.0 sacks across 16 games, per CBS Sports.
Chris Jones led the group with seven sacks, and the Chiefs as a team finished near the bottom of the league in that department. Jones was blunt about it this offseason, telling reporters, “We’ve got to get more sacks,” per Yardbarker, citing Pete Sweeney of The Kansas City Star.
| Player | 2025 Sacks | 2025 Tackles | Games Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Jones | 7.0 | 29 | 17 |
| George Karlaftis | 6.0 | 48 | 16 |
Why the Pass Rush Matters So Much This Time
The math is simple. A defense that can’t get pressure puts more on a quarterback coming back from a major knee injury. Mahomes is working his way back from a torn ACL and LCL, and the Chiefs need their front to hold up on its own so the offense isn’t playing from behind. Kansas City brought in reinforcements up front this offseason, drafting Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods in the first round and Oklahoma pass rusher R Mason Thomas in the second, while longtime veterans Mike Danna and Derrick Nnadi moved on in free agency.
That leaves Karlaftis and Jones as the clear veteran anchors of a line that’s otherwise gotten younger. Spagnuolo’s defense has leaned on that pairing before — the two combined for 57.0 sacks as a unit back in 2023 — and Kansas City needs something closer to that version of the front seven if it wants to be a factor in a loaded AFC.
Circling Back to Denver
Kansas City opens the season at home against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football on Sept. 14, a rematch of a rivalry that swung hard toward Denver last season. The Broncos swept the season series and snapped the Chiefs’ run atop the AFC West. Both teams could be breaking in quarterbacks working back from major injuries — Mahomes from his knee, and Denver’s Bo Nix from a fractured ankle suffered in the playoffs.
It’s an early measuring-stick game for a Chiefs team trying to prove last season was the exception, not the new normal.
