Chiefs Stock Watch: George Karlaftis on the rise after Week 2

Stock Down: Jawaan Taylor

The jig is up for Jawaan Taylor. The near-entirety of social media was up in arms about how much leeway Taylor was getting on his alignment and snap jumping in Week One to the point where the NFL League Office made it a point during its weekly training video to crack down on illegal formations and false starts. It seemed like the Chiefs and, most notably, Taylor, did not receive this memo.

Taylor was hit for five flags on the day, which included two false starts, two holdings, and one illegal formation. Both holding calls were on one drive in the second half as the Chiefs tried to distance themselves from Jacksonville. They were so egregious, in fact, that Andy Reid had to take him off for a few plays to help him shake it off.

Jawaan Taylor is far from the only tackle in the league who lines up a little deep or gets an early start on the snap. Lane Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles has made an entire career from that strategy. But if you look at NFL Twitter, you would think that Taylor is the sole offender and is being given a pass because he plays for the big, bad bullies in Kansas City.

Whether this newfound focus is applied consistently across the league to all teams remains to be seen, but from what we can see right now, Taylor is squarely under the microscope. If he cannot adjust his game with the help of offensive line coach Andy Heck, the penalties will start to make it incredibly uncomfortable to keep trotting him out there.

Stock Up: George Karlaftis

Furious George continues his ascent on the Chiefs' defensive line. Following up a solid Week 1, where he racked up nine tackles, Karlaftis made his home in the Jaguars' offensive backfield all day. Karlaftis reached Trevor Lawrence twice for a sack-and-a-half to go along with two extra quarterback hits and four more tackles. It feels odd to say this, but it must be legit since it came from the Chiefs' PR Twitter account. This was Karlaftis' first NFL game where he's had multiple sacks and multiple QB hits in the same game.

The growth of Karlaftis has been a massive boon for the Chiefs, as the former first-rounder is flourishing in his starting role during his sophomore campaign. Chris Jones is already an absolute menace that requires no less than two people to guard him at any time, as evidenced by his own sack-and-a-half performance despite this afternoon being the only NFL action he has seen since the Super Bowl.

Karlaftis is now growing into a bit of a monster in his own right, so if he can command that kind of attention on passing downs, especially when both he and Jones are on the field, this Chiefs' defensive line will continue giving defensive coordinators nightmares.