The Kansas City Chiefs entered this offseason with defensive end as one of their biggest offseason needs. The Chiefs got minimal production at the position in 2025 outside of George Karlaftis. While the Chiefs did spend an early second-round draft pick on R Mason Thomas, they've still lost more than they have gained at the position with the departures of Mike Dana and Charles Omenihu. That means that Ashton Gillotte is going to be forced to contribute more in his second season.
Many fans were expecting the Chiefs to both draft a defensive end early and sign a starting-caliber defensive free agent this offseason, but with Cam Jordan opting to go back to the New Orleans Saints, there just aren't many free agents left that can help the Chiefs this season. Perhaps the Chiefs think Felix Anudike-Uzomah will finally step up and make a meaningful contribution, but if that doesn't happen, then it will be all on R Mason Thomas and Ashton Gillotte to make something happen.
The opportunity is there whether the Chiefs like it or not
Departed veterans Mike Danna and Charles Omenihu combined for 956 defensive snaps last season. There is no way R Mason Thomas can eat up all of those vacated snaps by himself, so Aston Gillotte will have to see a big increase in the 485 snaps that he played last season.
Gillotte was named the Chiefs' defensive rookie of the year last year, but the numbers didn't exactly point towards him having that big of an impact. Gillotte graded out as Pro Football Focus' 88th-ranked edge out of 115 qualifying players. While he was graded as the 40th-best run-stopping edge out of those 115, he was 114th out of 115 in terms of pass rush grade. While there is a role for Gillotte as a run-stuffer who comes out for R Mason Thomas on clear passing downs, he is still going to have to rush the passer regularly and has to be better than he was his rookie season.
The good news is that Gillotte recently said that he wasn't satisfied with his rookie season. He admitted that he was overthinking at times and not playing like himself. Gillotte averaged 7.5 sacks per season during his last three years of college. PFF credited him with 115 QB pressures in his final 2 years in college, which was second among edge players for that time period. So even if his college sack totals weren't huge, he was consistently getting pressure. Now the Chiefs need him to replicate some of that this season.
The Chiefs need more than extra snaps from Gillotte
Gillotte played 46.6 percent of Kansas City's defensive snaps on the season, but that percentage was a little over 60% for the last five games of the season. The problem was that on his 268 pass-rushing snaps, he was only credited with 24 total pressures (16 hurries, 5 quarterback hits, and 3 sacks). For comparison, George Karlaftis had 66 total pressures (43 hurries, 16 hits, and 7 sacks) on 463 pass rush snaps. So Gillotte had about 58% of Karlaftis' pass rush snaps, but only put up about 36% of his pressures.
Danna and Omenihu combined for 575 pass-rushing snaps last season. Those snaps weren't much more productive than Gillotte's were. Again, Thomas can help some there, but he isn't going to play 575 pass-rushing snaps. Karlaftis was about as much of an iron man at the edge position as you'll see, and he only had 463 pass-rushing snaps. So two things are true. The Chiefs will need someone other than R Mason Thomas to help replace Danna and Omenihu's pass-rushing snaps, and they need that production to be better than it was last season.
It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs add another veteran edge player before training camp starts or if they trust the trio of Thomas, Gillotte, and Anudike-Uzomah to fill the void and increase their pass rush production. They may give the youngsters a chance to earn the job early on in training camp and then sign a veteran at roster cuts if they aren't liking what they are seeing. Either way, this is a spot to watch, and the Chiefs are clearly hoping that Ashton Gillotte will be a big part of the solution at defensive end this season.
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