Kansas City Chiefs rookie DE George Karlaftis put together one of the best performances of his young NFL career in Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Karlaftis stuffed the stat sheet against the Seahawks, recording one tackle, one sack, one QB hit, one tackle for loss and one pass batted. It was about as impactful a performance as the rookie has put together in a single game this year and an encouraging sign during this final stretch of the season.
Veteran DE Frank Clark has taken Karlaftis under his wing this season. Asked about Karlaftis’ performance in Week 16, he explained that he’s instilled a like mindset in the rookie. That is to say — don’t be satisfied with anything in this league.
“I love it. I want to see more,” Clark said of Karlaftis’ performance. “I look at George (Karlaftis) the same way I look at myself — just never being satisfied. I tell him that all the time, ‘Don’t be satisfied with being drafted in the first round. Don’t be satisfied with your family or everbody boosting your head up. Don’t ever get satisfied — don’t never listen to it. Just keep on going. There’s always more work to do.’
“I can go on and on and on about my eight years in this league, how many first-rounders I’ve seen come and go. Guys I’ve seen do good things and guys I’ve seen do not too good in their career path. I just keep telling George, ‘Ignore the media.’ . . . It’s the negative shade if you know what I mean. You come in as a rookie and you want to do good. Sometimes you might have a person on the outside saying you’re not doing that good, but in reality, it only matters what is said by the people in-house. You’ve got to look at the people to the right and to the left of you and appreciate what you’re able to do.”
Clark has taken his fair share of criticism during his time in Kansas City. He’s also recognized others get complacent at times. His goal with Karlaftis and other Chiefs rookies is to ensure that they don’t fall into that same trap — that they keep growing and improving.
“I just keep going,” Clark said. “I try my best to inspire the man next to me and then bring along another person in the process. Whether that’s inspiring an older guy or a younger guy that’s typically what I tend to do. And in this game, it was our DB’s honestly. I look at my young guys, look at that back end and just tell them ‘Just keep playing.’ Make your mistakes while you’re young. You make them early so when you get to this point in your career — year eight or whatever — you understand what’s asked of you, you understand what’s needed of you in those clutch moments. You see guys make mistakes like holding or whatever it is we always tell them ‘You good man, wash it away. Have short-term memory and make the next play you can.’”
At the end of the day, no matter how good Karlaftis and other rookies performed in Week 16, there are still two weeks left in the regular season. There are still goals ahead left to be achieved.
“Like I tell George, I’ll tell the rest of the rookies across the NFL, ‘Just keep your head down and keep working,'” Clark said. “The work is not finished. We have a lot more work to do. Make the mistakes early like I said, so that when you get to year eight and so on, you can be the one that’s helping out the next young guy.”
