{"id":713531,"date":"2026-01-29T08:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T08:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713531\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T08:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T08:06:25","slug":"creed-humphrey-nominated-for-nfls-first-protector-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713531\/","title":{"rendered":"Creed Humphrey Nominated for NFL&#8217;s First Protector of the Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Creed Humphrey was one of the bright spots for the <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/kansas-city-chiefs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kansas City Chiefs;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> this season. It was a forgettable campaign for the once mighty Chiefs. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 after finishing the campaign with a 6-11 record. To add to their misery, Kansas City also lost <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/tag\/patrick-mahomes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Patrick Mahomes;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Patrick Mahomes<\/a> to a <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/chiefs-owner-confirms-patrick-mahomes-225403917.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:season-ending knee injury;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">season-ending knee injury<\/a> toward the latter part of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Humphrey, however, had another excellent year for the Chiefs. He was the only player in the squad who earned an All-Pro nod this season, marking his second straight first-team selection. The 26-year-old center is also one of four Chiefs stars selected for the Pro Bowl Games, alongside tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/tag\/travis-kelce\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Travis Kelce;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Travis Kelce<\/a> (withdrew his participation), defensive tackle Chris Jones and right guard Trey Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey (52) after the game against the Arizona Cardinals.Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6efedb4f2930f8e76dcef0c64c010123.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey (52) after the game against the Arizona Cardinals.Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p> (Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p>Humprey reprised his role as Mahomes\u2019 top protector in 2025. This was at least until the three-time Super Bowl-winning QB was injured in Week 15. Humphrey has maintained his status as one of the top offensive linemen in the entire <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NFL;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A testament to this fact is how Humphrey was nominated for the first-ever Protector of the Year Award. ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler reported the news on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChiefs center Creed Humphrey is a nominee for the NFL\u2019s protector of the year award, per league source,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JFowlerESPN\/status\/2016650662495289658\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Fowler posted on X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Fowler posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/operations.nfl.com\/updates\/the-players\/new-protector-of-the-year-award-to-honor-offensive-linemen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NFL\u2019s website;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NFL\u2019s website<\/a>, the Protector of the Year Award \u201chonors individual excellence and spotlights offensive linemen, whose contributions are often overlooked in the highlight-driven nature of football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Humprey <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JFowlerESPN\/status\/2016681254066729472\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:is up against;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">is up against<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/denver-broncos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Denver Broncos;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Denver Broncos<\/a> offensive tackle Garett Bolles, <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/miami-dolphins\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Miami Dolphins;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Miami Dolphins<\/a> center Aaron Brewer, Broncos offensive guard Quinn Meinerz, <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/chicago-bears\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Chicago Bears;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Chicago Bears<\/a> offensive guard Joe Thuney and <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/detroit-lions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Detroit Lions;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Detroit Lions<\/a> offensive tackle Penei Sewell. <\/p>\n<p>The first-ever winner of the new award will be announced at the NFL Honors on Feb. 5. The ceremony will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/tag\/super-bowl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Super Bowl;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Super Bowl<\/a> on Feb. 8.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/eric-bieniemy-reveals-andy-reids-220834306.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Related: Chiefs Coach Eric Bieniemy Reveals Who Convinced Him To Return;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Related: Chiefs Coach Eric Bieniemy Reveals Who Convinced Him To Return<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This story was originally published by <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/kansas-city-chiefs\/chiefs-star-awaiting-nfl-announcement-first-ever-honor-creed-humphrey\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Athlon Sports;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NFL;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NFL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=athlonsports.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Creed Humphrey was one of the bright spots for the Kansas City Chiefs this season. It was a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3922,375,391,2025,7738,258,113,7,1713,6388,1814,118,110,251,6,3501,499,645,3887,500,2340],"class_list":["post-713531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-brewer","tag-arizona","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chris-jones","tag-creed-humphrey","tag-denver-broncos","tag-detroit-lions","tag-football","tag-garett-bolles","tag-jeremy-fowler","tag-joe-thuney","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-nfl","tag-offensive-linemen","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-penei-sewell","tag-quinn-meinerz","tag-travis-kelce","tag-trey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115977361863143008","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}