NFL Sacks Leaders 2024

We have seen a lot of individual defensive performances over the years, and sacks are such an important stat because they occur more often than interceptions and fumbles. We can truly see who are the best pass rushers in the game and how they have an effect on their team’s overall defense. With the league being more pass happy these days, getting pressure on a quarterback is important. Within this page you can see who is generating the most sacks, but also who is pressuring the quarterback the most. While they may not get a sack, they might have still disrupted the play and it is important to see that. Check to see who is leading the league or conference in sacks. As we get deeper into the season you can see who is making an impact by sacks per game. Once the playoffs hit, swap over tabs and see who is dominating the playoffs with their pass rush.

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Defense				Defense				Total						Per Game
RANK	NAME	RATING	TEAM	SACKS	HOME	AWAY	QB HITS	FORCED FUMBLES	SAFETY	SACKS	HOME	AWAY	QB HITS
Defense	1	Aidan Hutchinson A. Hutchinson	87	Detroit Lions DET	Total	6.5	5.5	1	14	1	0	Per Game	1.6	1.8	1	3.5
Defense	2	Kyle Van Noy K. V. Noy	79	Baltimore Ravens BAL	Total	6	4	2	10	1	0	Per Game	1.2	2	0.7	2
Defense	2	Will McDonald IV W. M. IV	73	New York Jets NYJ	Total	6	2	4	10	1	0	Per Game	1.2	1	1.3	2
Defense	2	Dexter Lawrence II D. L. II	94	New York Giants NYG	Total	6	1	5	10	0	0	Per Game	1.2	0.5	1.7	2
Defense	5	Pat Jones II P. J. II	69	Minnesota Vikings MIN	Total	5	2	3	7	1	0	Per Game	1	0.7	1.5	1.4
Defense	5	Maxx Crosby M. Crosby	96	Las Vegas Raiders LV	Total	5	0	5	7	0	0	Per Game	1	0	1.7	1.4
Defense	5	Derick Hall D. Hall	71	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	5	4	1	10	2	0	Per Game	1	1.3	0.5	2
Defense	5	Travon Walker T. Walker	77	Jacksonville Jaguars JAX	Total	5	3	2	7	1	0	Per Game	1	1.5	0.7	1.4
Defense	9	T.J. Watt T. Watt	96	Pittsburgh Steelers PIT	Total	4.5	2.5	2	10	1	0	Per Game	0.9	1.2	0.7	2
Defense	10	Gervon Dexter Sr. G. D. Sr.	67	Chicago Bears CHI	Total	4	3	1	10	0	0	Per Game	0.8	1	0.5	2
Defense	10	Keion White K. White	70	New England Patriots NE	Total	4	1.5	2.5	10	1	0	Per Game	0.8	0.8	0.8	2
Defense	10	Harold Landry III H. L. III	77	Tennessee Titans TEN	Total	4	2	2	6	0	0	Per Game	1	1	1	1.5
Defense	10	Bryan Bresee B. Bresee	72	New Orleans Saints NO	Total	4	2	2	5	1	0	Per Game	0.8	1	0.7	1
Defense	10	Jonathan Greenard J. Greenard	79	Minnesota Vikings MIN	Total	4	4	0	9	0	0	Per Game	0.8	1.3	0	1.8
Defense	10	Myles Garrett M. Garrett	99	Cleveland Browns CLE	Total	4	1	3	8	2	0	Per Game	0.8	0.5	1	1.6
Defense	10	Jonathon Cooper J. Cooper	76	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	4	1	3	9	0	0	Per Game	0.8	0.5	1	1.8
Defense	17	Chris Jones C. Jones	98	Kansas City Chiefs KC	Total	3.5	1.5	2	8	1	0	Per Game	0.7	0.5	1	1.6
Defense	17	Kevin Givens K. Givens	73	San Francisco 49ers SF	Total	3.5	2.5	1	5	1	0	Per Game	0.7	0.8	0.5	1
Defense	17	Alontae Taylor A. Taylor	75	New Orleans Saints NO	Total	3.5	3.5	0	4	1	0	Per Game	0.7	1.8	0	0.8
Defense	17	Odafe Oweh O. Oweh	79	Baltimore Ravens BAL	Total	3.5	3.5	0	7	1	0	Per Game	0.7	1.8	0	1.4
Defense	21	Jason Pinnock J. Pinnock	75	New York Giants NYG	Total	3	0	3	3	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0	1	0.6
Defense	21	Nick Bosa N. Bosa	98	San Francisco 49ers SF	Total	3	1	2	6	1	0	Per Game	0.6	0.3	1	1.2
Defense	21	Zach Allen Z. Allen	77	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	3	2	1	12	0	1	Per Game	0.6	1	0.3	2.4
Defense	21	DeMarcus Lawrence D. Lawrence	93	Dallas Cowboys DAL	Total	3	0	3	5	1	0	Per Game	0.8	0	1.5	1.2
Defense	21	Carl Granderson C. Granderson	80	New Orleans Saints NO	Total	3	1.5	1.5	4	1	0	Per Game	0.6	0.8	0.5	0.8
Defense	21	Dorance Armstrong D. Armstrong	77	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	3	1	2	9	1	0	Per Game	0.6	0.5	0.7	1.8
Defense	21	Nik Bonitto N. Bonitto	72	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	3	1	2	5	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.5	0.7	1
Defense	21	Dennis Gardeck D. Gardeck	74	Arizona Cardinals ARI	Total	3	3	0	3	1	0	Per Game	0.6	1	0	0.6
Defense	21	Trey Hendrickson T. Hendrickson	90	Cincinnati Bengals CIN	Total	3	1	2	7	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.3	1	1.4
Defense	21	Za'Darius Smith Z. Smith	84	Cleveland Browns CLE	Total	3	2	1	3	0	0	Per Game	0.6	1	0.3	0.6
Defense	21	Kobie Turner K. Turner	79	Los Angeles Rams LAR	Total	3	2	1	3	1	0	Per Game	0.6	1	0.3	0.6
Defense	21	Greg Rousseau G. Rousseau	84	Buffalo Bills BUF	Total	3	3	0	6	1	0	Per Game	0.6	1.5	0	1.2
Defense	21	Andrew Van Ginkel A. V. Ginkel	85	Minnesota Vikings MIN	Total	3	2	1	5	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.7	0.5	1
Defense	21	Devonte Wyatt D. Wyatt	75	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	3	1	2	5	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.5	0.7	1
Defense	21	Boye Mafe B. Mafe	78	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	3	2	1	6	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.7	0.5	1.2
Defense	21	Logan Hall L. Hall	70	Tampa Bay Buccaneers TB	Total	3	1	2	6	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.3	1	1.2
Defense	21	Frankie Luvu F. Luvu	82	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	3	2.5	0.5	4	1	0	Per Game	0.6	1.2	0.2	0.8
Defense	21	Von Miller V. Miller	86	Buffalo Bills BUF	Total	3	2	1	4	0	0	Per Game	0.8	1	0.5	1
Defense	39	Micheal Clemons M. Clemons	69	New York Jets NYJ	Total	2.5	0.5	2	4	0	0	Per Game	0.5	0.2	0.7	0.8
Defense	39	Maliek Collins M. Collins	72	San Francisco 49ers SF	Total	2.5	1.5	1	3	0	0	Per Game	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.6
Defense	39	Preston Smith P. Smith	77	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	2.5	0	2.5	3	0	0	Per Game	0.5	0	0.8	0.6
Defense	39	Nick Herbig N. Herbig	68	Pittsburgh Steelers PIT	Total	2.5	2.5	0	3	1	0	Per Game	0.5	1.2	0	0.6
Defense	39	Khalil Mack K. Mack	91	Los Angeles Chargers LAC	Total	2.5	1.5	1	4	0	0	Per Game	0.6	0.8	0.5	1
Defense	39	Will Anderson Jr. W. Anderson Jr.	84	Houston Texans HOU	Total	2.5	1.5	1	5	0	0	Per Game	0.5	0.5	0.5	1
Defense	45	Dre'Mont Jones D. Jones	75	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	2	1	1	3	1	1	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.6
Defense	45	Kenneth Murray Jr. K. Murray Jr.	76	Tennessee Titans TEN	Total	2	2	0	2	0	0	Per Game	0.5	1	0	0.5
Defense	45	Deatrich Wise Jr. D. Wise Jr.	78	New England Patriots NE	Total	2	0	2	3	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0	0.7	0.6
Defense	45	Brian Burns B. Burns	85	New York Giants NYG	Total	2	0	2	4	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0	0.7	0.8
Defense	45	Clelin Ferrell C. Ferrell	75	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	2	1	1	2	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.4
Defense	45	Tim Settle Jr. T. Settle Jr.	71	Houston Texans HOU	Total	2	0	2	3	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0	1	0.6
Defense	45	Zack Baun Z. Baun	71	Philadelphia Eagles PHI	Total	2	2	0	2	0	0	Per Game	0.7	2	0	0.7
Defense	45	Josh Hines-Allen J. Hines-Allen	92	Jacksonville Jaguars JAX	Total	2	2	0	7	0	0	Per Game	0.4	1	0	1.4
Defense	45	Eric Kendricks E. Kendricks	83	Dallas Cowboys DAL	Total	2	0	2	3	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0	0.7	0.6
Defense	45	Joshua Uche J. Uche	73	New England Patriots NE	Total	2	1	1	3	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.6
Defense	45	Montez Sweat M. Sweat	83	Chicago Bears CHI	Total	2	1	1	2	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.4
Defense	45	Dondrea Tillman D. Tillman	67	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	2	0	2	3	0	0	Per Game	0.7	0	1	1
Defense	45	Darrell Taylor D. Taylor	71	Chicago Bears CHI	Total	2	2	0	6	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.7	0	1.2
Defense	45	Cameron Heyward C. Heyward	90	Pittsburgh Steelers PIT	Total	2	1	1	8	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	1.6
Defense	45	Bobby Wagner B. Wagner	87	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	2	1.5	0.5	3	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.8	0.2	0.6
Defense	45	Sebastian Joseph-Day S. Joseph-Day	77	Tennessee Titans TEN	Total	2	0	2	3	0	0	Per Game	0.5	0	1	0.8
Defense	45	Jonathan Allen J. Allen	88	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	2	1	1	6	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	1.2
Defense	45	Joey Bosa J. Bosa	88	Los Angeles Chargers LAC	Total	2	1	1	3	1	0	Per Game	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.8
Defense	45	John Franklin-Myers J. Franklin-Myers	75	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	2	0	2	3	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0	0.7	0.6
Defense	45	Christian Wilkins C. Wilkins	87	Las Vegas Raiders LV	Total	2	1	1	6	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	1.2
Defense	45	Bud Dupree B. Dupree	75	Los Angeles Chargers LAC	Total	2	2	0	2	0	0	Per Game	0.5	1	0	0.5
Defense	45	Emmanuel Ogbah E. Ogbah	74	Miami Dolphins MIA	Total	2	1	1	5	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	1
Defense	45	Calais Campbell C. Campbell	83	Miami Dolphins MIA	Total	2	1	1	5	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	1
Defense	45	Zach Sieler Z. Sieler	81	Miami Dolphins MIA	Total	2	0	2	5	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0	1	1
Defense	45	Tyrel Dodson T. Dodson	75	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	2	2	0	2	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.7	0	0.4
Defense	45	Vita Vea V. Vea	89	Tampa Bay Buccaneers TB	Total	2	1	1	2	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.4
Defense	45	Kayvon Thibodeaux K. Thibodeaux	78	New York Giants NYG	Total	2	1	1	7	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	1.4
Defense	45	Leonard Floyd L. Floyd	78	San Francisco 49ers SF	Total	2	2	0	6	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.7	0	1.2
Defense	45	D.J. Davidson D. Davidson	68	New York Giants NYG	Total	2	0	2	2	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0	0.7	0.4
Defense	45	Harrison Phillips H. Phillips	78	Minnesota Vikings MIN	Total	2	1	1	4	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.8
Defense	45	Keisean Nixon K. Nixon	74	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	2	1	1	3	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.6
Defense	45	Jarran Reed J. Reed	78	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	2	1	1	4	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.8
Defense	45	Lavonte David L. David	91	Tampa Bay Buccaneers TB	Total	2	2	0	1	2	0	Per Game	0.4	0.7	0	0.2
Defense	45	Dayo Odeyingbo D. Odeyingbo	75	Indianapolis Colts IND	Total	2	2	0	4	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.7	0	0.8
Defense	45	Krys Barnes K. Barnes	75	Arizona Cardinals ARI	Total	2	1	1	2	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.4
Defense	45	Derek Barnett D. Barnett	75	Houston Texans HOU	Total	2	1	1	1	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.2
Defense	45	Anthony Nelson A. Nelson	72	Tampa Bay Buccaneers TB	Total	2	1	1	5	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	1
Defense	45	Byron Young B. Young	77	Los Angeles Rams LAR	Total	2	1	1	2	1	0	Per Game	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.4
Defense	45	Mario Edwards Jr. M. Edwards Jr.	71	Houston Texans HOU	Total	2	1	1	4	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.8
Defense	84	Danielle Hunter D. Hunter	90	Houston Texans HOU	Total	1.5	1.5	0	6	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0	1.2
Defense	84	Grady Jarrett G. Jarrett	85	Atlanta Falcons ATL	Total	1.5	1.5	0	4	0	0	Per Game	0.4	0.4	0	1
Defense	84	Edgerrin Cooper E. Cooper	67	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	1.5	0	1.5	3	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	0.6
Defense	84	Solomon Thomas S. Thomas	72	New York Jets NYJ	Total	1.5	0.5	1	2	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4
Defense	84	Chase Young C. Young	86	New Orleans Saints NO	Total	1.5	0	1.5	9	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	1.8
Defense	84	Chauncey Golston C. Golston	71	Dallas Cowboys DAL	Total	1.5	1	0.5	1	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.2
Defense	84	Nnamdi Madubuike N. Madubuike	89	Baltimore Ravens BAL	Total	1.5	0	1.5	7	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	1.4
Defense	84	Kingsley Enagbare K. Enagbare	68	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	1.5	0	1.5	3	2	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	0.6
Defense	84	Tershawn Wharton T. Wharton	69	Kansas City Chiefs KC	Total	1.5	1.5	0	3	1	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0	0.6
Defense	84	Bobby Okereke B. Okereke	85	New York Giants NYG	Total	1.5	0	1.5	2	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	0.4
Defense	84	Leonard Taylor III L. T. III	67	New York Jets NYJ	Total	1.5	0.5	1	2	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4
Defense	84	Micah McFadden M. McFadden	72	New York Giants NYG	Total	1.5	0	1.5	4	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	0.8
Defense	84	Karl Brooks K. Brooks	69	Green Bay Packers GB	Total	1.5	0	1.5	4	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.5	0.8
Defense	84	Leonard Williams L. Williams	81	Seattle Seahawks SEA	Total	1.5	0	1.5	8	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0	0.8	1.6
Defense	84	Jonah Elliss J. Elliss	67	Denver Broncos DEN	Total	1.5	1	0.5	2	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.4
Defense	84	Dante Fowler Jr. D. Fowler Jr.	74	Washington Commanders WAS	Total	1.5	1	0.5	2	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.4
Defense	84	Dalvin Tomlinson D. Tomlinson	75	Cleveland Browns CLE	Total	1.5	1	0.5	4	0	0	Per Game	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.8

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Contents

How To Read Sack Leaders Page

Every week the ranks will likely change as we are ranking defensive players solely on sacks. You can use tabs to narrow down what you are looking for with the overall NFL, AFC, and NFC. The slider is going to help you pinpoint who has the most sacks within a certain span of weeks. You can go from the second half of the season, or to just the last three weeks. This gives you more flexibility to see what you want to view. The Lineups Rating will sit next to the player to show their overall rating from a formula we have created based on defensive stats.

Getting into totals and per game numbers, you can see the splits between home and away. A player might have a noticeable difference in sacks at home and on the road. However you can’t really base this for future references if you are trying to project sacks. It is a small sample size of road and home games where the schedule might be more favorable for a player in home games or vice versa. So it is important to dig a little deeper and figure out why the numbers are the way they are.

QB pressures, forced fumbles, and safeties are also included here. QB pressures are much more frequent in comparison to the other two stats, so we just see their overall totals. However a player can have knack for forcing turnovers more frequently than others. Safeties are a rare play but we can see who leads the league in forcing them as well. QB pressures is an important stat because it can have an impact on the play without showing up in the box score as a sack. That is why we want to showcase it here and why it was created as well.

What Makes A Good Pass Rusher?

Each pass rusher is made up of a different mold of strengths and weaknesses. The ones who have little to no weaknesses are going to be the ones to produce more because of their skillset. Starting with having elite awareness, this is a crucial thing to have when being a strong pass rusher. There is always a lot going on each play and pre-snap. Being able to take what has happened in the past and being able to use that when necessary is a big help. Pass rushers that can get off the line and read snap counts well have a slight edge, but it is just a small piece of the puzzle.

Reading offensive lineman is crucial for a pass rusher. It is a battle all game long as often you will be matched up against the same name unless you flip sides more frequently. After they assess the offensive lineman, it is important for a defender to not get caught up with them, because they still need to find the ball and read the play. Whether that is a play action, a run, or a drop back pass, getting to where the ball or player is going to be is important. Getting past the blocker is only the first step, and it doesn’t do much good if you don’t know where the ball is after that.

Teams will often look for defensive players with a high motor, and not everyone has that. It is also not something you can teach, it is more on the player to have that or develop that attitude of chasing down and going 100% on every play. Having that high motor can help make up for some of the other missed attributes of a player. Now going full blown for every play of the game is going to cause some durability issues, so it is still smart to harness energy and be able to know when to turn it on and off.

Being able to battle with your hands is important as that is what you are mostly going to be doing when you battle an offensive line. If you get caught up and have the offensive lineman’s hands inside your shoulder pads, it is going to be tough to get by him. There are a few different techniques like using a bull rush and shedding these blocking moves, but we will get into that in a moment. A player can also dip past a higher blocking offensive lineman and this is known as the dip.

Having multiple pass rushing techniques is big because if you are a one dimensional pass rusher, it is going to be tough to overcome once an offense figures you out. You will also not be able to beat every offensive lineman with one or two moves. The best pass rushers are able to beat you inside or out, bull rush you, or just simply beat you right off the line. Jumping snap counts is a bit overrated, but a quick defensive end is going to need to have some awareness built in just due to the vulnerability they will leave if it is a run play or they miss the quarterback.

After all is said and done, you must be able to bring down the quarterback, right? Very few things are more frustrating than getting to the quarterback and not bringing him down when you have the chance. There is the mix of speed, physicality, strength, and size that must be possessed to go along with these traits. Very rarely does a player put it all together, but when they do, they are often one of the top pass rushers for a period of time or if the productions stays steady, it could be all-time.

Best Pass Rushers Of All-Time

Bruce Smith will go down as one of the best pass rushers of all-time, and possibly the best. He has the most sacks of any player in NFL history, and that record is looking very safe right now. He played most of his career in Buffalo, where he racked up over 120 sacks there. He also played in Washington where he continued strong numbers. Overall Smith was the heart of the Buffalo defense and they went to a few Super Bowls that ended in heart breaking fashion. Reggie White is just a few sacks short of Smith, and is second all time in sacks. He played with Philadelphia and Green Bay. White is one of the most dominating presences on the defensive side.

Lawrence Taylor will go down as the best defensive player to ever play, and added pass rushing to his game as an outside linebacker. He had seven straight seasons with double-digit sacks and was also a two-time Super Bowl champion who dominated the game on every front. Taylor jumpstarted what the linebacker position looks like now being able to get to the quarterback but also being a run stopping force and playing well in coverage. Another top linebacker, Kevin Greene had 160 sacks in his career, and was a monster with endless energy. No matter what team he played for, Greene’s production hardly changed.

The term “sack” actually started with Deacon Jones, and he had over 170 sacks that were calculated. The stat wasn’t officially recorded until after his career ended. Overall he was a Hall of Famer and one of the best defensive ends of all-time. Derrick Thomas was one of the best pass-rushers of all-time, but had a sad end to his career due to a car crash, and then died early at age 33. He holds the longest single game sack record with seven total sacks. He also had 126 in his career.

Getting into more recent years, Michael Strahan holds the single season sack record with 22.5, and ranks 6th all-time in sacks. If you watched Michael Strahan get that final sack, you have to say Brett Favre went down a bit too easy. Overall Strahan was an absolute force on the defensive side. One of the best undrafted free agent signings of all-time, John Randle had double-digit sacks in eight straight seasons. He finished with 137 sacks and went down as a hall of famer. The Colts had a dominant pass rush with Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney, who both rank inside the top 20 in sacks all-time.

Julius Peppers played for a long time, and is fourth overall in sacks. He played 16 years in the NFL, and has 159.5 sacks. Jason Taylor is another lengthy playing defenseman who ranks 7th all-time on the sacks list. We have seen a lot of names recently creep their way up the list. Terrell Suggs as 139 sacks all time and should move up a few with him still playing. DeMarcus Ware is another one who is 9th all-time in sacks. Von Miller and Cameron Wake are two active players still producing strong numbers. Both rank inside the top 35 in sacks all-time.

IDP Fantasy Football & Sacks

Individual sacks are something we can look at more for IDP fantasy football leagues, where overall team sacks can be considered non-IDP fantasy leagues. Now scoring systems are going to dictate how much a sack is worth. If a sack is worth the amount of a tackle, or slightly more, then, they are not as important as tackles because those are more frequent and easier to predict. Now if sacks are worth much more than tackles, then it is going to put more of an importance on getting players with a chance for sack production.

There are going to be a few things to look at when finding players who get sacks. The first is going to be a defensive scheme. A 4-3 or 3-4 system is going to change the way players get sacks, but also just overall production in general. Defensive ends have more fantasy value than defensive tackles, although there are a few names that can beg to differ. But for the most part defensive ends are going to be the ones who get a majority of the sacks. We like defensive ends more from a 4-3 system because there are four lineman to deal with instead of three for the opposing offensive lines. A linebacker in a 3-4 system might have more chances if they are used as an edge rusher and listed as a linebacker.

We never want to look at historical production as a major way to look at future projections, but it is part of it. There are some consistent players that generate sacks year in and year out. We just need to make sure that their role is still the same within an offense, and that they are not getting into years where we might see a decline. For example J.J. Watt isn’t the IDP player he used to be, and just because the sacks have been there in his career, the drop off has begun. Just because a player has a 15 sack season the year prior does not mean he will have it again. There is always more to the story for what we need to see when it comes to those outliers.

When looking at the positions that get sacks, it is between linebackers and defensive lineman. You will have some defensive backs play closer to the line or are used more creatively and nab a few extra sacks. Depending on how your IDP league is set up, you might just have an IDP spot which doesn’t narrow down what the position has to be. This opens the player pool so you can just find players who get sacks. Now if the league is a bit more specific, then you are going to have things broken out a bit where you need to fill a defensive line and linebacker spot.

Looking at 2021, there were 19 players with eight or more sacks at the defensive line position. At linebacker there was just 13. Overall the defensive line spot is going to have more available guys to generate sacks so there is more depth there to think about when drafting. Adjusting on the fly throughout the season is also important because injuries will occur, and roles could also change. You can generally find a player or two for the second half run because of those scenarios.

NFL Sacks Leaders FAQ

Who Led The NFL In Sacks In 2021?
Who Has The Most Sacks Of All-Time?
Who Has The Most Sacks in A Single Season?
Who Has The Most Sacks In A Game?
What Position Gets The Most Sacks?

Who Led The NFL In Sacks In 2021?

TJ Watt led the league in sacks this season with 22.5, tying the single-season record set by Michael Strahan. Watt has been one of the best pass-rushers over the last few seasons and is also someone who forces quite a bit of turnovers.

Who Has The Most Sacks Of All-Time?

Bruce Smith has the most sacks of all-time with 200. He played from 1985 to 2003 with two teams, the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins. Smith had 13 seasons with double-digit sacks and had a career high 19 in one season back in 1990.

Who Has The Most Sacks in A Single Season?

Michael Strahan had 22.5 sacks in 2001 with the New York Giants and owned the record for two decades. In 2021, TJ Watt matched that number. Even though it was a 17 game season, Watt reached that total in only 15 games.

Who Has The Most Sacks In A Game?

Derrick Thomas recorded seven sacks in a single game, which is the current record. He did it with the Kansas City Chiefs, on November 11th, 1990 against the Seahawks. This also came in a losing effort where the Chiefs lost by one point.

What Position Gets The Most Sacks?

Defensive ends have generally been the position to consistently record the most sacks, because a lot of their play by play responsibility is getting to the quarterback and defensive tackles get stuffed more. Edge linebackers can also record a lot of sacks.