Arrowhead Pride Bye Week Awards: Offensive Rookie of the Year

There are 11 games in the books — and six more to go. While we may not be right at the halfway mark of the 2021 regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs are taking their bye week in Week 11, so it's a good time to dish out some awards.

The Arrowhead Pride writing staff members each had one vote for our seven midseason awards. There are 12 contributors, so there will be 12 votes tallied for each award. In this post, we'll reveal our offensive rookie of the year to this point of the season.

VOTING: Humphrey (11), RG Trey Smith (1)

When you read the term "Bye Week Offensive Rookie," you would be forgiven for thinking that this award is purely reserved for a quarterback, running back, tight end or wide receiver. I'll admit, inadvertently, I thought the same.

In all my years of being a football fan, I've never known a center to even be in the discussion for an offensive player award — let alone be given it outright! With a team such as the Chiefs and their high-octane offense, you certainly wouldn't be crazy enough to present an offensive rookie award to a center … right?

Before we dwell on the fact the staff at Arrowhead Pride is that crazy, it's not in the slightest bit crazy to recognize the achievements and immediate impact of the Chiefs' starting center, Creed Humphrey. In such a short space of time with the Chiefs, Humphrey has been the guardian to the Chiefs' entire Kingdom by protecting Patrick Mahomes and providing run-block protection to the Chiefs' running back stable.

Humphrey is quickly gaining the nickname "Assassin Creed" among Chiefs fans, as he plays the game so efficiently. He stealthily appears out of the shadows in run-blocking plays to lay down the smack on anyone who gets in his way (Just ask Raiders safety, Dallin Leavitt)!

While Chiefs fans were quite rightly distracted by marquee signings on the left side of the offensive line during the preseason (Orlando Brown Jr. and Joe Thuney) and the question mark around who would be starting at right tackle, the position of center never really caused much concern from fans or the media. As the Chiefs worked through their rough patch to start the season, Humphrey stealthily (there's that word again) went about his business and executed his plays with clear cut precision.

Humphrey has already received significant praise from fans and the media and has been named a Pro Football Focus Midseason All-Pro for having recorded an overall offensive grade of 91.1; that puts him first overall in the league for his position. When you drill down into those stats even further, you begin to realize just how effective Humphrey has been in run blocking (first overall) and pass blocking (fourth overall) for his position.

With the evidence stacked so highly in Humphrey's favor, Arrowhead Pride is proud to name Creed Humphrey as the Bye Week Offensive Rookie of the Year.