Jaguars Extending Josh Allen Makes Chiefs Signing George Karlaftis Much Harder

The Jaguars made one of the biggest signings of the offseason on Wednesday, agreeing to a five-year, $150 million extension with star pass rusher Josh Allen.

This deal instantly makes Allen one of the NFL's highest-paid defenders and could help boost the market for other defensive linemen as well. George Karlaftis is quickly establishing himself as one of the most productive pass rushers in the league, so this contract could serve as a baseline for the deal Karlaftis will ultimately ask for when it's his turn.

Considering the numerous other players that'll need extensions around that time, like fellow 2022 rookie Trent McDuffie, the high price tag will make it difficult to keep Furious George.

Jaguars' Josh Allen Extension Makes it Harder for Chiefs to Keep George Karlaftis

While Karlaftis doesn't have a 17.5-sack season to his name, he appears to be on a similar trajectory that Allen had. The Jaguars' defensive cornerstone had 13 sacks in his first two seasons, the second of which was cut short due to injury, and Karlaftis notched 16.5 in his first couple of campaigns.

Karlaftis had 10.5 sacks this year and added three more in the playoffs, already ranking fourth all-time in Chiefs playoff sacks. He's clearly a rising star in this league and will command a suitable payday when it's his turn.

Kansas City already has tons of money committed to Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. Depending on how the organization handles Creed Humphrey, Nick Bolton and others, it'll be hard to keep the entire group together. Great players get paid like it and the Chiefs happen to have a lot of great players.

McDuffie and Karlaftis are considered the foundation of a new Chiefs defense. As Jones gets older, Karlaftis will take over as the team's best pass rusher and he'll understandably want to be paid like it.

Brett Veach will have to be creative with how he handles the salary cap moving forward. I'm optimistic that the Chiefs will keep both McDuffie and Karlaftis, but deals like Allen's with Jacksonville make it that much harder to pay everyone.

We'll see what happens, but you still have time to claim FanDuel Sportsbook's $150 sign-up bonus for any $5 winning first bet! New users who bet $5 or more (with a $10 deposit) will get $150 in bonus bets if the wager wins. Click here to sign up for FanDuel now!

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