NFL Future Watch: George Karlaftis Football Cards, Kansas City Chiefs – George Karlaftis was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. At 6’4”, 263 pounds, defensive end is the tailor-made position for this player who was born in Athens, Greece.
Karlaftis was a star at West Lafayette, Indiana High School. In his football career, he had 41 sacks. He was a star in track and field as well and won back-to-back state championships for the shot put.
Karlaftis committed to Purdue University. Some players are redshirted as true freshmen but not this defensive end. In 2019, he played in all 12 games recording 54 tackles and 7.5 sacks.
Playing during the pandemic was hard on all athletes. The ones who played were lucky. Some came down with COVID-19 and Karlaftis was one of them. He only played in three games because of it, but it was better than not playing at all. He recorded four tackles and two sacks. There was some development that took place.
The 2021 season was much better than in 2020. Karlaftis had 41 tackles, 11.5 of them were for a loss. That’s total domination. Add five sacks and that helped Purdue have an 8-4 record. They entered the Music City Bowl after beating Michigan State and Iowa.
After his time with the Boilermakers was over, he declared he would enter the 2022 NFL Draft. That meant he would show off his athleticism at the 2022 NFL Combine. Karlaftis opened scouts’ eyes by running a 4.78 in the 40-yard dash. His 38” vertical and 10’1” broad jump was tremendous. He capped it all off with 21 reps on the weight bench.
Karlaftis can chase down quarterbacks, get in the backfield to tackle runners, and cause turnovers. In college, he was a force to be reckoned with. In the early part of the 2022 NFL season, he had 14 tackles, eight solo, and a half a sack.
NFL Future Watch: George Karlaftis Football Cards Cards Worth Chasing
Karlaftis’s 2022 Panini Legacy Rookie Card Premium Edition is a good place to start. The Orange version is limited to 149 copies and he’s in his Purdue gear.
His 2022 Score Rookies card has a nice design and it shows him in his Chiefs gear from training camp. There are a lot of different versions.
One last card is his Panini Chronicles Draft Picks Contenders College Ticket. It is a timeless card that shows off his distinctive autograph in some limited versions.
NFL Future Watch: George Karlaftis Football Cards, Kansas City Chiefs – Stats
Statistical Image generated on Sports Reference 11/9/2022.
NFL Future Watch: George Karlaftis Football Cards, Kansas City Chiefs – More Resources
- NFL.com Profile
- Secondary Market Pricing
- Beckett Card Catalog
- George Karlaftis – Twitter
- George Karlaftis – Instagram
NFL Future Watch: George Karlaftis Football Cards, Kansas City Chiefs – Image Gallery
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