The Kansas City Chiefs have announced their Derrick Thomas and Mack Lee Hill award winners for the 2025 NFL season. The announcement comes almost a month earlier than the past three seasons after the Chiefs stumbled
to a 6-11 record and missed the postseason.
A team vote determines these awards once the season ends.
Derrick Thomas Award (Most Valuable Player)
For the fourth time in his incomparable Chiefs career, quarterback Patrick Mahomes has won the Derrick Thomas Award (Most Valuable Player). Mahomes was previously named team MVP for the 2018, 2022, and 2023 seasons.
Mahomes’ season was unfortunately truncated by a torn ACL suffered in Week 14. While his cumulative stats — 3587 passing yards with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions over 13 games — underwhelm based on the standard he has established, the quarterback battled to keep a disappointing squad in postseason contention into December. During the best stretch of the Chiefs’ season, a three game October winning streak, Mahomes posted a passer rating above 100 in each contest with nine touchdowns and only two picks.
With little going right on offense much of the season, Mahomes also set career highs with 422 rushing yards and five scores gained on his legs.
Mack Lee Hill Award (rookie of the year)
Taken with the Chiefs’ first of two third round selections of the 2025 NFL Draft, former Louisville edge rusher Ashton Gillotte was named the Mack Lee Hill (Rookie of the Year) award winner.
While Gillotte nominally started only two games, his snap percentage increased as the season went on. Gillotte played over half of the defensive snaps in seven contests, including Kansas City’s final five games. He finished the season with 1.5 sacks but recorded a pressure in five of the final six games. Gillotte also made arguably Kansas City’s top defensive play of the season with a dramatic interception off of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in Week 14.
In addition, defensive end George Karlaftis was named Kansas City’s Ed Block Courage Award winner. Named after a longtime Baltimore Colts athletic trainer, each NFL squad awards the honor to a player who “exemplifies commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage.”
