George Karlaftis, Defensive End (Round 1, Pick 30)
Pass rusher George Karlaftis had one of his most productive games of the year against Denver as he had one sack, a batted pass, a quarterback hit, and three total tackles. Although he had solid box score production, he had a very poor day tackling as he missed four tackles (three on passing plays and one on a running play), while no other defender had more than one.
After a solid month of not missing a tackle, it appears that George Karlaftis’ tackling issues have resurfaced. He’s missed a total of nine tackles this season, tied for fourth most on the team and the most out of any defensive lineman. Per PFF ($), Karlaftis has the fifth-worst tackle grade among all defensive linemen in the NFL, including the ninth-highest missed tackle rate. It’s not all negative as he’s tied for the lead league in batted passes among defensive linemen with six.
Although Karlaftis hasn’t met expectations so far, he’s flashed his potential regularly this year and I fully expect to take a huge step forward next season, and possibly even in or right before the playoffs begin.
Joshua Williams, Cornerback (Round 4, Pick 135)
Sunday was not a fantastic day for cornerback Joshua Williams, but it wasn’t a terrible one either. In 28 coverage snaps, he was targeted five times, allowing three catches, 33 yards, a touchdown, and a 119.2 passer rating.
Despite the middle-of-the-road day for Joshua Williams, he has still surpassed my expectations this season I was anticipating him playing minimal meaningful defensive snaps but he earned himself a consistent role in October. After playing only 17 snaps on defense over the first five weeks of the season, most of which were in garbage time, Williams was thrown into the fire against Buffalo in Week 6 and has been up to the challenge ever since.
Trent McDuffie, Cornerback (Round 1, Pick 21)
For the second consecutive week, Trent McDuffie committed a defensive pass interference penalty. In this game, that penalty came on a 4th-and-4 early in the fourth quarter that gave the Broncos the ball at the Chiefs’ 15 for a 40-yard penalty. In 54 coverage snaps, he was targeted seven times but allowed three catches for 19 yards, a touchdown, a pass breakup, and an 89.9 passer rating. Although the pass breakup was on Denver’s first play of the game, in which the ball hit McDuffie square in the face mask but he couldn’t come up with the pick.
Though he wasn’t terrible by any stretch, this was Trent McDuffie’s weakest game of the season in coverage, in my opinion. I view that as a positive since I viewed his performance as average as one could be, and if that is the weakest game of the season, most Chiefs fans will take that. He has the traits to be a star in this league and if he can continue to develop, then Brett Veach may have hit a home run with the 21st overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.