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

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.

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.