The Cleveland Browns saw superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett sack Joe Burrow in Week 18 of the 2025 NFL season to break the NFL sack record and record his 23rd sack of the year.
He beat T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan, becoming the NFL's best single-season sack artist. But he did so in 17 games, one more than the previous record.
Some have used that fact to discount Garrett's new record, but as Dante Koplowitz-Fleming of NFL.com shared, this 23-sack season is not deserving of an asterisk and is just as, if not more impressive than, the previous sack record.
Myles Garrett's record-breaking sack season doesn't deserve an asterisk
Koplowitz-Fleming highlighted one key statistic, opponents' pass plays, to show just how impressive Garrett's season has been.
Strahan had 22.5 sacks on 567 pass plays, Watt had 22.5 sacks on 557 pass plays and Garrett reached 23 sacks on 540 pass plays.
Long story short: Garrett's 23 sacks were in fewer passing plays than the previous sack record. Despite getting one more game than Watt and Strahan, Garrett had fewer chances than both to get a sack this season.
MORE: Myles Garrett breaks NFL single-season sack record against Bengals in Week 18
"While it is true that all counting stat 'records' are in danger of being broken in the 17-game season era and beyond," Koplowitz-Fleming writes, "that does not mean they should all have an asterisk next to them. Especially this one."
The Browns' superstar pass rusher ended the year with a total of 23 sacks, breaking the NFL single-season record and etching his name among the greatest pass rushers ever.
And even though he played in 17 games, thanks to a combination of the struggling Browns offense and an overall lack of plays when the opponent was passing, Garrett's record is more than earned, and does not deserve an asterisk.
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