What to know as Myles Garrett pursues NFL’s single-season sacks record

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Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is chasing history. Last week, he became the first player since sacks became an official statistic to reach 18 through 11 games.

As Garrett’s pursuit of the NFL’s single-season record of 22 1/2 continues with six games remaining, he considers it a foregone conclusion that he’ll break the record currently shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt.

“I don’t even think about (the record) as a want — I just think about it as something that I’m going to knock down,” Garrett said. “It’s already been written in my mind that it’s going (down). It’s just how far I’m going to take it.”

Garrett wouldn’t share his intended or targeted sack total, but said he’ll wear that number on his wrist tape Sunday when the Browns (3-8) host the San Francisco 49ers (8-4).

Garrett has 13 sacks over his last four games. He had three of the Browns’ 10 sacks last week to reach 18 on the season and break his own franchise record of 16 set in both 2021 and 2022. Garrett is just the third player in NFL history to have 16 or more sacks in three different seasons, joining J.J. Watt and Reggie White.

With the Browns jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter last week en route to a 24-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Garrett got the rare opportunity to spend most of the game in attack mode. He’s continued to wreck games and opponents’ game plans despite the Browns’ offensive struggles this season. Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said he believes Garrett deserves consideration for NFL MVP, not just his second Defensive Player of the Year award.

“I’m not a voter. I don’t really know what goes into all those things, (but) I think you’d be hard pressed to find a more valuable player in the NFL,” Schwartz said. “You know, Myles had five sacks in one game, four sacks in another, a bunch of tackles for losses, really dominating play and didn’t win those (player of the week) awards because we had lost the game, probably.

“We won this last one, he won (AFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 12) — so winning certainly has a lot to do with it. But you know, when you’re talking about most valuable player, it’s tough to keep him out of that conversation.”

The last player to win Defensive Player of the Year on a team with a losing record was Miami’s Jason Taylor in 2006. No defensive player has been named NFL MVP since Lawrence Taylor in 1986. With his sixth consecutive season of at least 12 sacks, Garrett earlier this month passed Taylor’s previous record streak of five such seasons.

Garrett now has 120 1/2 sacks over his nine-year career. Only White (137) had more in his first nine seasons. Earlier this season, Garrett surpassed White for the most sacks recorded by a player before his 30th birthday.

On Sunday, Garrett’s primary matchup will be with 49ers left tackle Trent Williams, a four-time All-Pro. Garrett said Williams, 37, is “still playing at an elite level” and that he loves the challenge of competing against a player with whom he’ll almost certainly one day share space in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In California last week, Williams told reporters that Garrett “is one of the best to ever play. He has no weaknesses.”

It seems unlikely that Garrett would get five sacks versus Williams and the 49ers to break the single-season record, but considering Garrett’s current pace, anything is possible.

Garrett said he also knows the single-season tackles for loss record is 39 and that he wants to break that, too. He enters Sunday’s game with 26, one short of J.J. Watt’s record for most tackles for loss in the first 12 games of a season (27, 2012).

After Garrett made a public trade demand in February, then signed an extension that included more than $122 million in guaranteed money in March, Schwartz said he expected Garrett to have his best year in 2025. And though it’s been another disappointing season for the Browns, Garrett continues to produce big numbers and build upon the type of season Schwartz predicted.

“We’ve talked at length about Myles — and deservedly so,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “And the thing I would point out, and I keep saying it (because) I hope someone’s pointing it out, is (Garrett’s) run defense. It definitely gets less of the attention, but he’s a well-rounded player. He’s an elite player. … It’s not like he’s just rushing the passer. He’s playing the run, he’s doing anything and everything to help this team.”