Kansas City Chiefs DE George Karlaftis has a great reason to believe he can cash in big time in Week 14 vs. Houston Texans

It’s time for Kansas City Chiefs DE George Karlaftis to kick things up a notch.

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor
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The Kansas City Chiefs have struggled to affect the quarterback in recent weeks, going two consecutive weeks without registering a quarterback sack. In Week 13’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Chiefs DT Chris Jones felt that he and one other player didn’t do a good enough job of rallying the troops toward the opposing quarterback.

“Overall, I think we could have affected a quarterback more as a unit,” Jones said. “As a D-line unit, you know, we didn’t get there. We didn’t affect them as often, you know. So, you know, I put that on put that on me and George (Karlaftis), we’ve got to step up and make sure we’re attacking the quarterback and leading these guys.”

Heading into Week 14 against the Houston Texans, the Chiefs will face one of the NFL’s most improved offensive lines on the year. They’re currently tied for 16th in the NFL with 27 sacks allowed through 12 games. Yet, there are reasons to believe that DE George Karlaftis could turn things on and have one of his best games yet this season after earning a long-term contract extension this past offseason.

George Karlaftis is the only Chiefs player on the roster with sack incentives in his contract

Karlaftis currently has five sacks in the 2025 NFL season, and he knows that, collectively, the team needs more. He’s got plenty of financial incentive to make sure that he starts racking up more sacks. Karlaftis can earn up $1 million in contract incentives. He earns $250K starting at eight sacks on the season and will earn an additional $250K up to the 11-sack mark on the season.

George Karlaftis’ 2025 NFL season sack escalator

  • 8 sacks: $250K
  • 9 sacks: $500K
  • 10 sacks: $750K
  • 11 sacks: $1 million

In 2024, Karlaftis had 10.5 sacks on the season. He failed to register a sack against Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud in their regular-Week 16. He got close with four registered QB hits in that game, but it wasn’t until they met again in the playoffs that Karlaftis kicked things up a notch. In the Chiefs’ 23-14 win in the AFC Divisional Round, Karlaftis registered a single-game career-high three sacks against Stroud. The team had a season-high nine sacks in that playoff game.

Unfortunately for Karlaftis, he’s been playing through a thumb injury that has limited his effectiveness in recent weeks. He’s now gone three consecutive games without a sack, and his last full sack came in Week 8 against the Washington Commanders. Can he get it going in Week 14 against the Texans? Houston allows 2.3 sacks per game on average this season, but allowed an average of just two sacks per game over their last three.

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