6’4” / 275 lbs

Karlaftis is a big kid who plays with an exceptional motor. 

Where Karlaftis really wins though, is with his size and his strength. He could slot inside on certain schemes and his arm length means he can create great leverage and separation. 

As an athlete, Karlaftis has exceptional burst and explosiveness.For his size, he moves incredibly well. He displays excellent burst, can change direction smoothly,.

Karlaftis never gives up on a play and he will chase down defenders with 100% effort. He can more than match up with bigger offensive lineman. 

Although he showcases good athleticism with surprising speed for his size, he isn’t particularly bendy off the edge. He lacks flexibility in his legs.

Draft projection; top 15, maybe top 10.

In the game against Iowa, Karlaftis was unstoppable as he pressured Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras constantly. According to Pro Football Focus, Karlaftis accounted for 10 pressure on the Iowa offense. This is the most in a single game against Iowa’s O-line during Pro Football Focus’ College era.

Karlaftis finished the game with 1 solo tackle, 1 sack, and 1 tackle for loss.

If Thibodeaux is off the board and Texans take a QB, Eagles almost have to take Hutchinson.

If they don’t and take Stingley, either Karlaftis or Leal or both will be available at No.7.

Can you imagine Eagles landing Hutch, Karlaftis or Leal and Stingley/Hamilton in top 10?!

Roll with Hurts/Minchew, the former showing improvement, and give this defense two studs please!

Declared for the draft

Bump up.

Underrated kid

2 hours ago, Godfather said:

Underrated kid

Still probably out of reach... 

On 12/29/2021 at 8:01 PM, Ray75 said:

Still probably out of reach... 

I know you are a draft specialist on the board. It's clear that the top two DEs are absolutely out of reach. 

I'm hoping that the Dolphins get beaten by the Pats and we end up with their pick at around 12.

On the limited research I've done for this draft, my favourite prospects which fit our needs, outside of the big two DEs, are Karlafis, Stingley Jr and Hamilton. Do you see a possibility of any of them making it down to around 12 (I think it very unlikely) and if not do you think it would be worthwhile considering a trade up with a 3rd or maybe even a 2nd if any of them fall within reach?

 

On 1/4/2022 at 4:35 PM, ManchesterEagle said:

I know you are a draft specialist on the board. It's clear that the top two DEs are absolutely out of reach. 

I'm hoping that the Dolphins get beaten by the Pats and we end up with their pick at around 12.

On the limited research I've done for this draft, my favourite prospects which fit our needs, outside of the big two DEs, are Karlafis, Stingley Jr and Hamilton. Do you see a possibility of any of them making it down to around 12 (I think it very unlikely) and if not do you think it would be worthwhile considering a trade up with a 3rd or maybe even a 2nd if any of them fall within reach?

 

Well...I wouldn’t call myself a draft specialist but thx for the kind words.

To answer your question; anything can happen between now and april but unless Stingley’s medical doesn’t check out, none of the top 10 teams are willing to spend a top 10 pick on a safety or Karlaftis tests really bad, I don’t believe any of those prospects will be on the board at 12.

I do believe that if we end up with pick No.12 or 13, it’s not out of the question Howie trades up into that 8-11 range if the Eagles have fallen in love with a specific prospect. The cost to do so will likely be a 3rd.

Although I love Hamilton, I just don’t see the Eagles trading up for a safety. For a corner? Maybe...but it’s a pretty good class and they can address that position with any of their first rounders.

IMO there’s a gap between edge rusher tier 1 (Hutchinson and Thibodeaux), tier 2 (Karlaftis and Ojabo) and tier 3 (Johnson II, Enagbare, Sanders, Thomas etc).

Tier 3 can all be had in the twenties all the way up to mid second round.

If the Eagles want a tier 2 guy, they might have to trade up unless Karlaftis or Ojabo fall right into their lap. At 12 one of them might, at 15 I’m not so sure.

With BG coming of an injury and Barnett a FA, my bet is that they’ll select a DE with one of their first rounders. The question is with which pick. If I’d have to put money on it, I’d say they’ll target Karlaftis or Ojabo with the Miami pick. Depending on what they think of Leal, he could be in the conversation too.

I don’t know what to make of this kid to be honest. But for some reason I fully expect Howie to fall head over heals for him and draft him.

On 1/5/2022 at 1:33 PM, D-Shiznit said:

I don’t know what to make of this kid to be honest. But for some reason I fully expect Howie to fall head over heals for him and draft him.

You definitely could be right. It’s almost a gimme that they’ll select a pass rusher with one of their first rounders.

If you compare Ojabo to Karlaftis, the former is pretty raw and rarely played with his hands in the dirt, begs the question if he’s still learning that or more suited to play as a stand-up OLB/pass rusher in a 3-4 while the latter is a pure DE best suited to play on a 4-3 front.

Depending where we end up selecting with the Miami pick, it wouldn’t surprise me if Howie trades up a couple of spots to select Karlaftis.

If Karlaftis is still available in that 8-12 range, I fully expect Howie trying to trade up. 

He’s exactly the type of player Howie falls in love with.

Bump up!

Ideal fit IMO and might fall out of top 10.

maybe it’s just because i haven’t seen much on him just can’t get excited about him for some reason 

I admit I wasn't keen on this player to start.  He seemed like a Barnett 2.0 kind of player:  high motor, college production, but not overly athletic.

Most here are under the impression we're going to keep rolling on D with the same type of 4-3 scheme we ran under Schwartz and that doesn't seem to be the case with Gannon.  As JR pointed out a couple times is that we're running more of the 4i scheme along the DL front.  Basically it's a DL over the C with the 2 DEs playing on the inside shoulders of the OTs.  Closer to a 3-4 than a 4-3, though sometimes there is still a 4th DL player along the LoS, usually standing up instead of a hand in the dirt.  So now I'm starting to wonder if the Eagles FO and D coaches see this player as a fit in their 4i scheme. 

 

15 hours ago, Green_Guinness said:

I admit I wasn't keen on this player to start.  He seemed like a Barnett 2.0 kind of player:  high motor, college production, but not overly athletic.

Most here are under the impression we're going to keep rolling on D with the same type of 4-3 scheme we ran under Schwartz and that doesn't seem to be the case with Gannon.  As JR pointed out a couple times is that we're running more of the 4i scheme along the DL front.  Basically it's a DL over the C with the 2 DEs playing on the inside shoulders of the OTs.  Closer to a 3-4 than a 4-3, though sometimes there is still a 4th DL player along the LoS, usually standing up instead of a hand in the dirt.  So now I'm starting to wonder if the Eagles FO and D coaches see this player as a fit in their 4i scheme. 

 

Agreed.

Look...when BG went down, the only pure 4-3 DE’s they had on the roster were Sweat, Barnett, Kerrigan and Jackson but they did have two somewhat tweeners on the roster best suited to play 3-4 OLB’s in Avery and Johnson. If you’re not able to put enough pressure on opposing QB’s out of your base 4-3 formation, you might start tweaking a bit.

So my question would be; is this 3-4 over the base formation they truly want to run or did they run it more because they didn’t have enough/the right horses for a true 4-3 formation?!

If the answer is the former, someone like Ojabo makes a ton of sense. If it’s the latter, guys like Karlaftis and Johnson come into play.

3 hours ago, Ray75 said:

Agreed.

Look...when BG went down, the only pure 4-3 DE’s they had on the roster were Sweat, Barnett, Kerrigan and Jackson but they did have two somewhat tweeners on the roster best suited to play 3-4 OLB’s in Avery and Johnson. If you’re not able to put enough pressure on opposing QB’s out of your base 4-3 formation, you might start tweaking a bit.

So my question would be; is this 3-4 over the base formation they truly want to run or did they run it more because they didn’t have enough/the right horses for a true 4-3 formation?!

If the answer is the former, someone like Ojabo makes a ton of sense. If it’s the latter, guys like Karlaftis and Johnson come into play.

Kerrigan a pure 4-3 DE? 

2 hours ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

You're out of your mind.  Karlaftis is not the kind of talent you trade up for.  If he goes higher than 20, I'd be stunned.  I wouldn't draft a guy based on a possible fit with whatever Gannon does or wants do to, from a scheme perspective.  Because Gannon will not be here for long.  And traditionally the Eagles prefer to have a DC run a 4-3.  So if you need to consider if the guy is a scheme fit or not, in the top 20 of the draft....then you shouldn't take him.  You take talent....then fit.  He is an underwhelming athlete and has underwhelming production in college. And he's pretty stiff off the edge, lacks bend.  We need edge rushes....not edge setters.  Terrible value for us with any of our firsts.  Trade down and get a few more shots at similar underwhelming athletes in later rounds.    

We’ll see how he tests and where he’ll wind up. Some have him going top 10, others later. Me?! Well, I have a bunch of pass rushers rated higher than him but I don’t view him as a terrible prospect. Just not a terrific one... Late teens, early twenties is where he should go but even in a deep class, pass rusher is a premium position. Quality ones always go high.

Fit and talent go hand in hand. You see it every year. Agreed you should draft based on talent but every year teams pass on players cause they don’t see the fit.

1 hour ago, time2rock said:

Kerrigan a pure 4-3 DE? 

In Washington?! Nope! Here they probably signed him for depth. Just didn’t play that much. Over the hill...

Karlaftis did have a formal interview with the Eagles in Indianapolis this week.

While he considers himself a basketball player, he doesn’t consider himself a shooter. When asked how his ice-breaker free throws with the Eagles went, he said, "Not good.”

I’m warming back up to Karlaftis…

 

47 minutes ago, MidMoFo said:

I’m warming back up to Karlaftis…

I think we may all have to.  If the Eagles are targeting DE, he will be the best on the board unless they want to redshirt Ojabo.

18 hours ago, downundermike said:

I think we may all have to.  If the Eagles are targeting DE, he will be the best on the board unless they want to redshirt Ojabo.

Do you think they could get Ojabo in the second? With a little trade up. I actually think he may be a really good fit for Gannon because he's a little undersized so he's not a natural DE.

2 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Do you think they could get Ojabo in the second? With a little trade up. I actually think he may be a really good fit for Gannon because he's a little undersized so he's not a natural DE.

I would take him if available at our pick in round 2, I would not put extra resources into a guy who will not be 100% until 2023

1 hour ago, downundermike said:

I would take him if available at our pick in round 2, I would not put extra resources into a guy who will not be 100% until 2023

Prior to the injury, I figured that Ojabo would need a year just to learn through doing given his inexperience - as he always played in a 2pt stance and was still working on his ability contain against the run, etc.  I feel like that has been delayed by a year due to the injury - so he's a Year 3 guy now.  I guess that lines up with Reddick heading out, but that's a long time,