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Kansas City Chiefs rookie pass rusher George Karlaftis has his priorities in order early in his NFL career.
First, get to the quarterback. Then, worry about the celebration.
Karlaftis hit the ground running this preseason, as he accrued sacks in each of the Chiefs’ first two games against the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders.
This was a welcomed development for the organization that selected him in the first round of this year’s draft. His celebrations, although, left a bit to be desired:
The George Karlaftis sack celebration is evolving. @TheGK3 | @Chiefs
— NFL (@NFL) August 20, 2022
: #WASvsKC on @NFLNetwork
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/tpy3uNZRe7 pic.twitter.com/PKG2Vs5mUl
Chris Jones has been helping guide Karlaftis through his transition into the NFL, and his assistance won’t stop short of sack celebrations.
“Yeah, he’s a TikTok guy,” Jones told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s a TikTok’er. You know, the dancing. We’re working on it. It’s getting better.”
It was only fitting that the next player to step to the podium on Wednesday was JuJu Smith-Schuster, who boasts a following of 3.4 million people on the social media platform. Smith-Schuster said that while Karlaftis hasn’t asked for any advice from him, he’d be happy to lend a helping hand if called upon.
“George hasn’t talked to me yet but obviously I’m open to that,” Smith-Schuster told reporters. “I’m open to helping out the guys with celebrations. That’s something I’ll be doing too. You know, all the touchdown celebrations — I’ve got to do ‘em pretty quick because we score a lot here.”
Scoring touchdowns is always the expectation with Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback. The sacks have been harder to come by as of late in Kansas City. If Karlaftis can help change that for the Chiefs this year, he won’t be the only person at Arrowhead celebrating.
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