Updated NFL single-season sack record: Who has the most sacks in one season in the history of the league?

Pressuring the quarterback has become one of the defining measures of defensive dominance in the modern NFL. Among all defensive achievements, few are as closely watched or as difficult to attain as the single-season sack record.

Season after season, pass rushers chase after one of the league’s most cherished individual records: the most sacks in a single NFL season.

Myles Garrett has just broken the record cited below. The Browns’ DE now has 23 sacks this season.

Since the league began officially recording sacks in 1982, the benchmark for pressure had been firmly established at 22.5 sacks. Michael Strahan of the New York Giants set this mark in 2001 (stats via Opta Analyst), a performance that has stood the test of time.

Two decades later, T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers matched Strahan’s total in 2021, making them co-record holders in official NFL history. Watt’s performance was particularly remarkable because he achieved it in just 15 games, one fewer than Strahan had in 2001.

Behind the co-leaders sit a small group of elite pass rushers who have nearly reached that pinnacle. Mark Gastineau, Jared Allen, and Justin Houston each logged 22 sacks in their best seasons, coming within touching distance of the all-time number.

Now, Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns is the new sack leader for a single season.

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It’s worth noting that if we include unofficial statistics compiled by historians from games before 1982, the numbers shift slightly. Al “Bubba” Baker of the Detroit Lions, for example, is credited with 23 sacks in 1978, a total that would eclipse the official mark but isn’t recognised by the NFL due to the absence of official tracking at the time.

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