{"id":42331,"date":"2026-01-25T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42331"},"modified":"2026-01-25T00:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:03:03","slug":"breaking-news-chiefs-make-shocking-choice-for-team-rookie-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42331","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 BREAKING NEWS: Chiefs\u2019 Unexpected Choice for Team Rookie of the Year Is Turning Heads \ud83e\udd2f\ud83d\udc40"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2243704236-e1769282664282.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2243704236-e1769282664282.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2243704236-e1769282664282.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2243704236-e1769282664282.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs Make Shocking Choice for Team Rookie of the Year\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the Kansas City Chiefs continue their offseason, the team took one last snapshot of its past campaign.<\/p>\n<p>This week, the organization celebrated its team awards for 2025-26. Recipients of the \u201cDerrick Thomas Award\u201d (team MVP), \u201cEd Block Courage Award\u201d and \u201cMack Lee Hill Award\u201d (Rookie of the Year) were all announced on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>To no one\u2019s surprise, Kansas City\u2019s January 24 release featured quarterback Patrick Mahomes as MVP. Defensive end George Karlaftis\u2018 competitive spirit and sportsmanship earned him the Block honor. The Chiefs\u2019 pick for top first-year player, as voted on by the team itself, may not be who many had in mind.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Ashton Gillotte Named Chiefs\u2019 Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year<\/h2>\n<p>Fellow defensive end Ashton Gillotte wound up taking home the accolade.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This rook made a statement this season! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AshtonGillotte?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AshtonGillotte<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/um3im3cWi3\">pic.twitter.com\/um3im3cWi3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chiefs\/status\/2015084929122754880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Gillotte, a third-round 2025 NFL Draft pick, played in all 17 regular-season games as a rookie. Logging 485 defensive snaps and another 76 on special teams, he was a trusted contributor all year long. The Louisville product\u2019s debut campaign saw him record 38 tackles (3 for loss) with 1.5 sacks, a pass breakup and an interception.<\/p>\n<p>To kick off January, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo tipped his cap to Gillotte.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought Ashton has been and hopefully will continue to be on a trajectory that\u2019s going upward,\u201d Spagnuolo said. \u201cIt would\u2019ve been nice to maybe get more reps in early \u2014 we were rotating guys \u2014 but I think he\u2019s getting plenty towards the end here. I think that will help him going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are the last five winners of the Mack Lee Hill Award:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2024: WR Xavier Worthy<\/li>\n<li>2023: WR Rashee Rice<\/li>\n<li>2022: RB Isiah Pacheco<\/li>\n<li>2021: LB Nick Bolton<\/li>\n<li>2020: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Given that Charles Omenihu is a pending free agent, that could free up playing time for Gillotte as a sophomore. Not only that, but it\u2019s easy to wonder whether the Chiefs will get out of Mike Danna\u2018s contract. The veteran D-lineman can be released and free up $8.94 million in cap space while incurrent just $2.17M in dead money, via Over The Cap.<\/p>\n<p>The Day 2 selection could become even more important down the road.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Did Kansas City Make the Right Choice for First-Year Team Honor?<\/h2>\n<p>Did Gillotte deserve the Mack Lee Hill Award compared to his peers? That\u2019s up for interpretation. His sack total was tied for eighth on the team. According to Pro Football Focus, he graded out as the No. 87 overall edge player and the 114th-ranked one for run defense. Among all rookies at his position during the regular season, his 24 pressures were seventh.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no denying that Gillotte had a year to build on. It was a respectable effort for a first-year man. It\u00a0<em>is<\/em> worth deciphering, though, whether a pair of other rookies perhaps should\u2019ve gotten player-voted buzz for the award.<\/p>\n<p>Sticking on the defensive side of the ball, cornerback Nohl Williams also appeared in every regular-season game. In those contests, he had 48 tackles (4 for loss) and 7 pass breakups. In coverage, he surrendered an impressive 82.9 passer rating and a 52.5% completion clip. The cherry on top was PFF ranking him 15th among all cornerbacks with a 74.5 composite grade. He was between 11th and 19th in coverage, run defense, and pass rushing alike.<\/p>\n<p>First-round left tackle Josh Simmons, despite playing only eight games, was good enough to have his name thrown into the hat. In 526 offensive snaps, the Ohio State product was remarkably effective as a pass protector. On top of his 18 total pressures ceded, Simmons\u2019 75.5 pass blocking grade sat 25th out of 89 qualified tackles in the PFF database. He\u2019s earned the title of left tackle of the future.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t that Gillotte didn\u2019t do enough to head into the offseason with his head held high. It\u2019s that a couple of other first-year Chiefs managed to star on the field.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs announced their Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year award winner for 2026, but it isn&#8217;t who you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 BREAKING NEWS: Chiefs\u2019 Unexpected Choice for Team Rookie of the Year Is Turning Heads \ud83e\udd2f\ud83d\udc40 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42331\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 BREAKING NEWS: Chiefs\u2019 Unexpected Choice for Team Rookie of the Year Is Turning Heads \ud83e\udd2f\ud83d\udc40 - 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