Chiefs announce 2022 team MVP, rookie of the year award winners

The Kansas City Chiefs have announced their Derrick Thomas and Mack Lee Hill award winners for the 2022 NFL season. The Chiefs finished the regular season 14-3 to claim the AFC’s No. 1 seed — and then went on collect a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, winning the team’s second NFL championship in four seasons.

The team votes on these awards after each season has concluded.

Derrick Thomas Award (most valuable player)

After being named MVP of both the league and Super Bowl in this past season, quarterback Patrick Mahomes adds a third MVP award to his 2022 collection.

In his fifth season as the team’s starter, Mahomes led the league in passing yards (5,250), touchdowns (41), touchdown pass percentage (6.3%) and QBR (77.6), becoming the first-ever quarterback to win a Super Bowl after leading the league in passing yards. By collecting another 358 yards on the ground (plus six more on a pass reception) he also set an all-time record for total offensive yards with 5,614, breaking Drew Brees’ 2011 record of 5,562 yards.

This is Mahomes’ second Derrick Thomas Award. He also won following his 2018 MVP season, which was his first as the team’s starter. Safety Tyrann Mathieu won the award in both 2019 and 2021 — and tight end Travis Kelce won in 2020.

Mack Lee Hill Award (rookie of the year)

Taken in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft, former Rutgers running back Isiah Pacheo said that it was his intention to “take a grown man’s job” in Kansas City. That’s exactly what he did. Named the team’s starting running back for the Week 7 game against the San Francisco 49ers, Pacheco kept the job for the rest of the season.

Through 11 starts (and just 31% of the team’s offensive snaps), Pacheco collected 830 rushing yards (and five touchdowns) on 170 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per attempt. He caught 13 of his 14 targets to accumulate another 130 yards.

Other recent winners of the Mack Lee Hill Award include offensive lineman Andrew Wylie (2018), wide receiver Mecole Hardman (2019), running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (2020) and linebacker Nick Bolton (2021).