The Kansas City Chiefs chose to exercise the fifth-year options of both defensive back Trent McDuffie and defensive end George Karlaftis — who were both selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft — in May, and the latter addressed his KC future beyond that fifth-year option at OTAs.

“I’ll let whoever has to handle that handle that,” Karlaftis told reporters at OTAs when asked about a long-term extension, “but, you know, I’d like to be here as long as I can.”

“My now-fiance and I absolutely love Kansas City, love this organization,” the pass rusher added. “So, I’ll let whoever has to handle that handle that. But I love it here.”

Clearly, on the topic of a Karlaftis extension, the former first-round talent’s message is pretty straightforward. He wants to be a member of the Chiefs both now and in the future.

The ball is now in general manager Brett Veach’s court.

Karlaftis is almost inherently underrated, if that’s even possible. He plays second fiddle to Chris Jones on the defensive line, and he’s often talked about as the second-most important draft pick in 2022, behind McDuffie.

Despite his consistency, he’s never really discussed much around the NFL as an elite defensive end either. Instead, he’s generally talked about within a second or third tier below the top of the league.

That doesn’t bother Karlaftis, who told reporters that he doesn’t “need to prove anything to anybody other than the people in this building” at Chiefs OTAs.

“That’s how I feel,” Karlaftis continued, “Coach [Joe] Cullen, [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo], Coach [Andy] Reid, my teammates, I got their back just like they got mine, and I try to put my best foot forward every day to get better and do what I can on the field. Whatever recognition is to come, it’ll come, I’m not really worried about that at all.”

Statistically speaking, Karlaftis has gotten better every year.

According to Pro Football Focus, Karlaftis had a porous missed tackle rate of 30.0 as a rookie, but he lowered that missed tackle rate to 12.7% in 2023 and 10.0% in 2024. It’d be nice to see Karlaftis get that average under 10% in 2025.

His total quarterback pressures did dip slightly in 2024 (with 76) after surging up to 83 pressures during his second NFL campaign (including playoffs), but his number of QB hits spiked from 8 to 25 last year, so his quality of QB pressures has improved.

If you count the playoffs, Karlaftis has averaged almost 11 sacks per season since entering the league. His key defensive “stops” on PFF have remained pretty consistent as well, with 24 as a rookie, 32 in year two, and 31 in 2024.