The Kansas City Chiefs have announced their team MVP and their rookie of the year for the 2022 NFL season.
For those who don’t know, the team’s annual MVP award is named after Chiefs legend Derrick Thomas, one of the greatest pass rushers in NFL history, who tragically passed away in 2000. The Mack Lee Hill Award honors a rookie or first-year player and is named after former Chiefs RB Mack Lee Hill, who died during knee surgery in 1965.
Players in Kansas City vote each year to name one player Derrick Thomas MVP and another the Mack Lee Hill Award winner following the conclusion of the season. The votes have been tallied for the 2022 NFL season.
Voted on by their teammates 👏
Congrats to @PatrickMahomes and @isiah_pachecoRB, this year's Derrick Thomas MVP and Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year award winners. pic.twitter.com/tUcH1gC6k7
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 22, 2023
This marks Patrick Mahomes’ second Derrick Thomas MVP. He last earned the award in the 2018 NFL season after his prior MVP campaign. This year he was named league MVP once again, recording league-leading marks in passing yards (5,250) yards, touchdowns (41), touchdown percent (6.3), yards per game (308.8) and quarterback rating (77.6). He also broke the NFL’s total yardage record and led the Chiefs to win Super Bowl LVII despite playing through a high ankle sprain.
As for Isiah Pacheco, it’s interesting to see him named the Mack Lee Hill Award winner when the team had such a stellar rookie class. This just goes to show you how much the rookie running back is respected by his teammates for his season-long performance. Pacheco worked his way up to the starting position, making his first career start in Week 7 and he never surrendered the job for the remainder of the season. He’d finish the year with over 200 carries for 1,027 yards and six touchdowns on the season. Brett Veach said there was a late-round running back who would become a 1,000-yard rusher and Pacheco turned out to be that guy.
