Chiefs rookie preview: Ashton Gillotte 2025 stat projections

USA Today

8 hours ago

Chiefs rookie preview: Ashton Gillotte 2025 stat projections
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Louisville Cardinals defensive end Ashton Gillotte with the 66th overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. Gillotte lacks ideal arm length and bend but fits the mold of a modern power rusher with a high floor in run defense. This type of player is becoming more coveted around the league. If given enough snaps, Gillotte could make a nice impact as a rookie.
Excluding former first round pick George Karlaftis, rookie defensive ends don't have a great track record on Steve Spagnuolo's Chiefs defenses. Since Spagnuolo arrived in Kansas City in 2019, the five defensive ends drafted by the Chiefs have produced a total of nine sacks during their rookie campaigns. Six of those belong to Karlaftis.
Even before Spagnuolo became the team's defensive coordinator, Kansas City struggled to draft reliable defensive ends. Tanoh Kpassagnon and Breeland Speaks were second round picks in 2017 and 2018, respectively. They combined for 3.5 sacks in their rookie seasons and 8.5 total sacks during their time with the Chiefs.
Gillotte could snap the streak of struggling Chiefs defensive ends. He joins a room with limited depth featuring Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Mike Danna, Malik Herring, Karlaftis and Charles Omenihu. Danna and Omenihu pose the biggest threats to Gillotte's snap count, but both veterans are battling back from injury-shortened campaigns that saw them post some of the worst numbers of their careers.
Gillotte could absorb most of the snaps given to Anudike-Uzomah and Herring in 2024, which would put him around 500 regular season snaps. However, that number seems unreasonably high considering both Danna and Omenihu missed significant time. It's more likely that Gillotte plays somewhere between 300 and 400 snaps.
In 2024, Pro Football Focus charted Karlaftis playing 65.8% of his snaps on passing downs. If Gillotte hits the same mark, he would total between 197 and 263 pass rush attempts. Gillotte applied pressure on 15.7% of his pass rushes at Louisville in 2024, but that's a lofty mark for a rookie. If he comes closer to Karlaftis' 2024 mark of 11.2%, Gillotte would finish 2025 with between 22 and 29 pressures.
Sack totals are far more difficult to predict than pressures because they're a less consistent measurement. Three to five sacks seem like a reasonable projection for Gillotte. He should create more splash plays in run defense and might even approach ten total tackles for loss when combining his sacks with his work in run defense.
Similar to fourth round pick Jalen Royals, Gillotte is a piece of Kansas City's plan to future-proof its roster. The Chiefs would save roughly nine million by cutting Danna next offseason, and Omenihu is on a cheap, one-year deal. Gillotte is the future of Kansas City's defensive line, but don't expect a flashy rookie season.