KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With their sack production at a three-year low in 2024 and Chris Jones getting his lowest total since his rookie season in 2016, the Kansas City Chiefs turned to the 2025 NFL draft for some pass-rush punch.
They selected defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott in the second round and end Ashton Gillotte in the third. If the Chiefs are again among the league leaders in sacks, as they were in 2022 and 2023, at least one of these rookies and perhaps both will need to make an impact.
"You can never have enough of them," Chiefs senior director of player personnel Mike Bradway said of finding players who can successfully rush the opposing quarterback. "I think Omarr with his inside rush and Ashton just with his versatility, we thought those guys are just too hard to find."
The Chiefs had 57 sacks in 2023 and 55 the year prior but fell to 39 last season, good for 17th in the NFL. Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, who was second on the Chiefs in sacks last season with 6.5, left in free agency.
Their leader, George Karlaftis with eight, and Jones, third with five, are back.
Rather than sign a veteran pass rusher in free agency, the Chiefs used their money elsewhere and went for Norman-Lott and Gillotte instead. Norman-Lott had 13.5 sacks in four collegiate seasons, two at Arizona State and two at Tennessee. Gillotte had 26.5 sacks in four seasons at Louisville, including 11 in 14 games in 2023.
"Relentless, unforgiving," Norman-Lott said in describing his best pass rush qualities. "I believe I have a natural ability of getting off the ball."
There will be plenty of playing time available for Norman-Lott to earn. The Chiefs have a spot for an interior pass rusher next to Jones. The Chiefs also have veteran defensive tackles Mike Penell and Jerry Tillery, but each is more of a run defender than a pass rusher.
"He's got some similarities to [Wharton]," Ryne Nutt, the Chiefs' director of player personnel, said of Norman-Lott. "He's bigger. He's not as fast, but their play style is very similar. He was one of the top defensive tackles in winning one-on-one pass rush, and that's what we first off need, and that's where we saw he could add value.
"We feel like he can come in and help rush the passer ... he was highly productive and highly disruptive and those are the things we look for."
If Norman-Lott reminds the Chiefs of Wharton, they consider Gillotte to be a similar player to Karlaftis. Gillotte was already friends with Karlaftis by the time he was drafted by the Chiefs.
Their connection was having the same defensive line coach, Mark Hagen, at their respective college programs -- Karlaftis at Purdue and Gillotte at Louisville after Hagen joined the Cardinals.
"I was doing film study with him [before the draft], watching plays," Gillotte said of Karlaftis. "He was watching practice and being like, 'That's bad. You've got to fix that.' He was very critical but in a lot of ways helped refine how I pass rush and get to this level to be considered."
Now that they're teammates, Gillotte said, "He was trying to give me a rundown of what I need to know about the city, where to live, all that kind of stuff [including] the playbook. I'm [not] trying to blow his phone up too much, but now he doesn't have any choice. He's stuck with me."
The Chiefs wouldn't mind production from Gillotte like they've received from Karlaftis since they drafted him in the first round in 2022. Karlaftis had six sacks as a rookie, 10.5 in 2023 and then eight last season.
After his big 2023 season, Gillotte's sack total dropped to 4.5 last year.
"This kid plays a hundred miles an hour," Bradway said. "He is everything you want in a football player. From makeup to how he plays the game ... the guy is absolutely relentless.
"Sometimes the sack numbers I think can be a little misleading. You can feel him when you watch the tape, just the activity. I'll tell you one more thing about him. He dropped a little weight this spring and his pro day was probably one of the better pro days. We saw all springy explosiveness, athleticism, movement was like a linebacker. So that kind of sold us on just what kind of physical talent he had."