Why the Chiefs paid Karlaftis before McDuffie (and it’s not personal)

George Karlaftis is now signed with the Kansas City Chiefs through the 2030 season. The pass rusher received a four-year contract extension on Sunday afternoon. Karlaftis has been producing for Kansas City's pass rush since entering the league in 2022 as a first-round pick. He has tallied a combined 24.5 sacks throughout his first three seasons. And in terms of quarterback hits in 2024, only Trey Hendrickson and Zach Allen have more than George Karlaftis.

Karlaftis has earned a well-earned boost in pay already as a young piece of the defense. In addition, general manager Brett Veach deserves praise for getting a player like Karlaftis locked up early. They had the fifth-year option season available for 2026, plus any additional years to utilize the franchise tag if they chose to do so. Yet, this was a reasonable extension that should go down as an immediate win for each side.

Many Chiefs fans believed that cornerback Trent McDuffie was next in line for a contract extension after the recent Trey Smith deal. Yet, Karlaftis made a lot more sense for the team, in terms of what defender got paid first. After seeing the groundwork of the Karlaftis extension, this move was a no-brainer for Kansas City.

Karlaftis gives the Chiefs reasonable value now

The defensive end market has seen a major explosion in contract market value in the last couple of years. Because of that, we have seen some tension and holdouts for some of the pass rushers in the league. Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt both earned new deals this offseason. While they have more seasoned careers than Karlaftis, there were moments where it seemed like each pass rusher might not stay with their team. The lengths that Cleveland and Pittsburgh had to go to make their stars happy looked unlikely at times.

But in the end, NFL teams are generally more willing to overpay, so to speak, on extensions for defensive ends. Karlaftis is playing a position where teams avoid stalling in negotiations. Karlaftis has been more productive than most young pass rushers. Even with that, his sack and pressure numbers could still climb in 2025 and 2026, which makes it more important that the Chiefs already have him locked up through 2030.

Chiefs have been willing to dig deeper at DE

For the most part, the Chiefs have historically been a team that does not wait or dance around on new deals for their defensive linemen. Chris Jones' recent negotiations got a little awkward there for a moment, but he eventually got his deal.

Nonetheless, Kansas City has dug deep for notable pass rushers on repeated occasions. Frank Clark received over $100 million in total contract value before even taking a snap for the team. Even Tamba Hali received some contract extensions that carried some risk. The monetary value may not match what we see today. Though Hali was in rarefied air among Chiefs players for his deals at the time.

Even with the Chiefs generally not hesitating to pay more for their defensive linemen, this George Karlaftis extension gives them some relief. That is true both now and in the long-term future of this deal. It is all because of how Karlaftis' contract numbers will stack up with the upper echelon of the defensive end market. The youth of this player also pays dividends for the Chiefs in this situation, to boot.

Why Trent McDuffie is left waiting

As some have mentioned, the top of the edge rusher market is continuing to climb at an exponential rate. Trent McDuffie is playing in a market where the top of the cornerback contract value is largely set.

Sure, being able to navigate that will still be a possible challenge for Kansas City. However, the Chiefs have tools available to them, like McDuffie's fifth-year option, plus potential franchise tag years beyond that (if needed).

As for how they operate with defensive back contracts, the Chiefs are not afraid to see where the rest of the league takes them first. In the end, K.C. is usually comfortable being late or spending fewer premium assets on the cornerback position. Even with McDuffie's strong play to this point, they have operated in this manner for a while on defensive spending.

That's not to say that McDuffie doesn't deserve a new deal (he does) or that he won't get one (he will). Rather, it just made more sense to extend Karlaftis first knowing much more the market will shift there going forward as compared to corner where comparable players (like Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley) have already been compensated.