Chiefs reveal George Karlaftis played through significant injury in 2025
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- George Karlaftis broke his hand last season and had surgery during the bye week.
- Karlaftis recorded 5.0 sacks and 15 quarterback hits through the first nine games of 2025.
- Karlaftis produced one sack over the final seven games after the hand injury.
Through the first nine games of the 2025 season, Kansas City Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis had five sacks and 15 quarterback hits, per Pro Football Reference.
When the Chiefs returned from their Week 10 bye for practice ahead of Week 11 against the Denver Broncos, Karlaftis appeared on the injury report as a “limited” participant with a thumb injury. He was limited again Thursday before being upgraded to a full participant Friday.
Karlaftis played in Denver with a cast on his right hand and didn’t miss a game until Week 18, when he was inactive.
On Wednesday, after the Chiefs’ sixth voluntary OTA practice, defensive line coach Joe Cullen added clarity to the situation.
“George didn’t say anything, (but) he broke his hand,” Cullen said. “I mean, he had a broken hand and didn’t miss a game. And he had to have surgery during the bye week, and that was his power hand. He likes to use his right hand and power there.”
Over the final seven games, Karlaftis’ production fell off, finishing with just one sack over that stretch. It was a disappointing finish, especially considering the Chiefs signed him to a four-year, $93 million extension ahead of the season.
Yet now the drop-off makes sense.
Asked about the injury last week, Karlaftis couldn’t help but laugh before shifting the focus to the upcoming season.
“It’s nice to go into a season healthy,” he said. “Not making excuses for anything that happened last year, but turning a new page, learning from everybody’s mistakes last year and trying to be the best version individually and then again as a team.”
Pressed for more detail about the impact of being fully healthy, Karlaftis smiled again.
“It helps, of course,” he said. “Even having that, just trying to be the best version of myself I could be every single day in practice and in the games, too.”
Cullen added that Karlaftis never gave a thought to sitting out and taking time off on the Injured Reserve list to heal.
“Not at all,” Cullen said. “I had another guy in my career (who) had the same injury, Gerald McCoy, and his happened right before the bye, and he came in with a big cast on. The second play that he had, he had a sack with it. ... He was the same way. George was the same way.”
Karlaftis’ most productive season came in 2023, when he had 10.5 sacks, and he followed it with an eight-sack season in 2024. As he enters 2026 healthy, the Chiefs seem to believe his output will be closer to those numbers than anything they saw last season.
“He’s just healthy, and he’s excited,” Cullen said. “He knows the defense like the back of his hand. He knows (Steve Spagnuolo’s) defense and our defense well, and I’m excited for him to have a great year.”
