Photo: Atlanta Falcons, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons²

George Karlaftis

Defensive End, Kansas City Chiefs · #56.

Player facts

Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Position: Defensive End
Number: 56
Born: Apr 3, 2001 (age 25)
Birthplace: West Lafayette, IN, USA
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 263 lbs
College: Purdue
Experience: 5 seasons
Status: Active

Stats

2026 Defense

	TOT	SOLO	AST	SACK	FF	FR	YDS	INT	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG	PD	STF	STFYDS	KB
Regular Season	15	6	9	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.0	0	0	2	1.5	5	0
Career	178	99	79	30.5	1	3	1	1	0	0.0	0	0	19	21	17	0

Recent games

			Tackles				Fumbles		Interceptions
Date	Opponent	Result	TOT	SOLO	AST	SACK	FF	FR	INT	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG	PD	KB
Sun, Oct 4	@ LV	W 30-27	5	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	1	0
Sun, Sep 27	@ MIA	W 24-10	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.0	0	0	1	0
Sun, Sep 20	vs IND	W 33-30 OT	5	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Mon, Sep 14	vs DEN	W 31-10	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0

Last 4 games. Click a game for its box score.

About

George Matthew Karlaftis III (Greek: Γιώργος Ματθαίου Καρλαύτης; kar-LAFF-tiss; born 3 April 2001) is a Greek professional American football defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was born in Athens and grew up as a multi-sport athlete playing football, track and field, basketball, and water polo, the latter of which he played with the Greek national team.

Karlaftis and his family moved to the United States when he was 13. He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers, where he won all-Big Ten honors before being selected by the Chiefs in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. In his debut season, Karlaftis was part of the Chiefs Super Bowl LVII winning roster and was a regular starter. In his second season, he was a key contributor in Kansas City's Super Bowl LVIII win.

From Wikipedia’s article on George Karlaftis, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.¹

Background

Early life

Karlaftis was born in Athens, Greece. His father Μathiós "Matthew" Karlaftis grew up as an all-around athlete in Greece and later earned a degree in civil engineering at the University of Miami before pursuing a doctorate at Purdue University. His mother Amy, who had grown up near Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, met Matthew while she was a freshman. After marrying, they settled in Athens. While Amy spoke English to the couple's four children at home, they were otherwise brought up in Greek culture.

In his early years in Athens, he played water polo as a goalkeeper in the youth ranks of Panathinaikos, the Greek team of which he is also an avid supporter.

Matthew died of a heart attack in 2014 while on the island of Kos where he was to deliver a speech at an engineering conference there. Following his death, Amy and her children moved back to West Lafayette, where George Karlaftis began attending West Lafayette High School. He was enlisted in the school's football team and had 41 sacks during his high school career. He also competed in track and field for the school, including winning back-to-back state championships in shot put. He played in the 2019 U.S. Army All-American Game, where he was named the Defensive Player of the Year. He graduated early from high school and enrolled at Purdue in January 2019.

College career

As a true freshman at Purdue in 2019, Karlaftis started all 12 games, recording 54 tackles and 7.5 sacks. He only played in three games as a sophomore in 2020 due to a positive COVID-19 result, finishing the year with four tackles and two sacks. Karlaftis declared for the 2022 NFL draft following the 2021 season in which he recorded 4.5 sacks.

Personal life

Karlaftis was once a youth member of the Greece men's national water polo team. His father, Matthew, was a javelin thrower for the University of Miami's track and field team and also tried playing on their football team before suffering a severe skull injury during his first practice with them. His brother, Yanni, won a youth world championship in judo at 11 and joined the Boilermakers as an outside linebacker in 2021.

On May 9, 2026, Karlaftis married his high school sweetheart Kaia Harris in Glyfada, Greece.

Karlaftis is a Greek Orthodox Christian.

From Wikipedia’s article on George Karlaftis, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article.¹