- - Myles Garrett is close to the NFL's sacks record. But whose record is it, anyway?

Andrew GreifDecember 21, 2025 at 5:04 AM

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Myles Garrett sacks 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on Nov. 30, 2025, at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, OH. (Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It seems straightforward enough: With three games left in the NFL’s regular season, Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett has 21.5 sacks and is on pace to break the single-season sack record.

But whose record would Garrett be breaking? It depends on your preferred accounting.

The NFL, founded in 1920, didn’t recognize sacks of the quarterback until 1982. As such, its official record stands at 22.5, tied by both Michael Strahan in 2001 and T.J. Watt in 2021.

Yet researchers who combed through decades of league data and box scores recognize Al Baker’s 23-sack season in 1978 with the Detroit Lions as the unofficial all-time leader.

Baker this month called Garrett a “phenomenal end” while predicting Garrett would get more than 23 sacks by season’s end.

“And I guarantee you he knows Al ‘Bubba’ Baker has 23,” Baker said. “So that’s what he’ll break and that’s what he wants to break.”

Hall of Fame pass rusher Jared Allen claims he, too, had 23 sacks, in 2011, when he finished ultimately with 22.

Jared Allen before a game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 21, 2013. (Al Pereira / Getty Images)

“They took a sack from me,” Allen said last year on a podcast with former NFL players DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.

Allen claimed the league had taken away a sack on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers that had been credited to him by changing it to a “team sack” days later, over a difference in opinion on whether Rodgers had fumbled or “muffed” the ball before the sack.

“Every time I see Aaron he’s like, ‘Bro, you got it,’” Allen said.

Rodgers is unequivocal that Allen should be the all-time leader.

“You are the all-time single-season sack leader,” Rodgers said last summer while congratulating Allen on his Hall of Fame induction. “I don’t care what the numbers say, because that phantom bull--- sack they took away from you would give you the record.”

But did Deacon Jones have the best season ever sacking the quarterback? In the era before sacks became official, Jones is credited with 22 sacks in both 1964 and 1968, when NFL teams played just 14 games. When Strahan reached 22.5 sacks, it was during a 16-game season; Watt, meanwhile, did it in a 17-game season.

The thorniness of the sack record underscores a debate of how to compare sports eras that goes well beyond the NFL. Advancements in technology allow games to be tracked through increasingly granular metrics not available to earlier statisticians.

The act of tackling a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage was not, however, one such previously unmeasurable piece of data. Rams defensive end Jack Youngblood, whose career ended in 1984, said in 2006 that he had been paid by the Rams for sacks as a rookie in 1971.

Lawrence Taylor's emergence as part of a fearsome New York Giants defense is widely credited with nudging the league toward officially recognizing sacks as a statistic in 1982, but team historians and researchers have been trying to quantify pre-1982 sacks for decades.

Researchers John Turney and Nick Webster have been on the hunt since the early 1990s, and their work was credited in 2021 by Pro Football Reference, a widely used statistics database, as one reason behind its decision to include pre-1982 sacks to its leaderboards, saying the “numbers are based upon review of official play-by-plays, watching game film, photographs and coaches’ stats.” The NFL has declined to make such statistics official for its record-keeping purposes, however.

What is not up for debate is the difficulty Garrett has faced to even approach the official and unofficial sacks records while playing on one of the NFL’s worst teams.

NFL offenses this season average 32 passes per game. When playing the 3-12 Browns, though, opponents throw the ball about 4.5 times fewer, likely because their opponents are constantly playing with a lead, reducing the opportunities for sacks each game. Over the course of a 17-game season, that means Garrett will get about 75 fewer chances for a sack than an average pass rusher — making his potentially record-breaking performance all the more impressive.

"I watch him and I say I don’t know how I would have been able to block him one-on-one," Joe Thomas, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman whose career overlapped with Garrett’s one season in Cleveland, said on the Dan Patrick Show. “And I think that’s the mentality that a lot of offenses basically every offense that he’s gone against this season has said because nobody’s blocking him one-on-one.

"Even the best tackles in the game right now are not allowed to go against him one-on-one because he is so dominant there’s nobody in the game that can block him consistently throughout the course of an entire game."

What else we're watching for in Week 16:

Bills (10-4) at Browns (3-11): Beyond Garrett's sack pursuit, Buffalo can clinch a playoff spot with a win and a loss or tie by either Indianapolis or Houston. With his next touchdown, Josh Allen will pass Aaron Rodgers for the fastest to ever reach 300 career touchdowns. Allen has played 125 regular-season games, while Rodgers did it in 134.

Chargers (10-4) at Cowboys (6-7-1): With a win, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh will have won 11 or more games in five of his first six seasons in the NFL, and would join Andy Reid as the only coaches to ever do that.

Chiefs (6-8) at Titans (2-12): The last time Kansas City played a regular-season game when it had already been eliminated from the playoffs was Week 17 of 2012. Tennessee is the only team yet to win a home game.

Bengals (4-10) at Dolphins (6-8): What's left to play for with two teams already eliminated from the playoffs? For Miami, the debut of quarterback Quinn Ewers. Bengals star Ja'Marr Chase needs four catches to become the first player ever with more than 500 receptions and more than 50 touchdowns in his first five seasons.

Jets (3-11) at Saints (4-10): New York, which recently fired its defensive coordinator, has gone 14 consecutive games without an interception, which is the longest single-season streak in NFL history since turnovers became official in 1933.

Vikings (6-8) at Giants (2-12): Minnesota's Justin Jefferson needs 112 receiving yards to pass Randy Moss for the most receiving yards in a player's first six seasons, but complicating that pursuit is Minnesota's pass game, which has seen Jefferson catch fewer than 25 yards in each of his last three games.

Buccaneers (7-7) at Panthers (7-7): Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is quietly authoring a fascinating career, with 11 of his 13 wins as a starter coming as the result of a game-winning drive. Young is 0-4 against Tampa in his career, while Buccaneers counterpart Baker Mayfield is 5-0 against Carolina.

Jaguars (10-4) at Broncos (12-2): Denver would clinch the AFC title with a win and a loss or tie by the Chargers. Jacksonville can also clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss or tie by either Indianapolis or Houston. The Broncos are the only undefeated team at home this season.

Falcons (5-9) at Cardinals (3-11): The last tight end to lead the NFL in receptions was Tony Gonzalez in 2004, but Arizona's Trey McBride (105 catches) is trying to match that feat. He is 12 catches from breaking Zach Ertz's 2018 record for most single-season catches by a tight end.

Steelers (8-6) at Lions (8-6): Jahmyr Gibbs has matched a hallowed Detroit icon by tying Barry Sanders for the most touchdowns (47) through a player's first three seasons in NFL history.

Raiders (2-12) at Texans (9-5): While Las Vegas has lost eight in a row, the Texans are winners of six straight. Houston (269.2 yards per game allowed) is on pace to allow the fewest yards per game in a season since the 2014 Seahawks (267.1), who made the Super Bowl behind that defense.

Patriots (11-3) at Ravens (7-7): New England will clinch a playoff berth if it wins or ties. It also can clinch if either Indianapolis or Houston lose or tie. The Ravens are trying to become only the fifth team to start 1-5 but still make the playoffs.

49ers (10-4) at Colts (8-6): On Monday night, the NFL's favorite grandfather, 44-year-old Philip Rivers, will start for the second time in Indianapolis. The 49ers can clinch a playoff spot with either a win or a Detroit loss Sunday.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”