Defensive Notes

May 22, 2022

T.J. Watt

Linebacker lapping the field for sacks

In IDP leagues, for those who compete in them, it can be hard to get pass-rushing linebackers too high relative to the guys who are racking up 130-plus tackles. The pass rushers generally have a bigger impact on the game, but they're recording half as many tackles (at most). But T.J. Watt is an exception.

The Pittsburgh outside linebacker, who tied Michael Strahan's NFL record with 22.5 sacks last year, is the league's best pass rusher these days. His 65 sacks over the last four seasons are 6 more than 2nd-place Aaron Donald and 14.5 more than 3rd-place Myles Garrett. But those guys, of course, are linemen. The gap is even wider when comparing him to other linebackers.

Table below shows total sacks by linebackers over the last four years. Watt has nearly twice as many sacks as any of the next five best linebackers, all clumped together in the 30-37 sack range. (Nearly double in tackles for loss and quarterback hits, too, should any leagues give points for such things.) Difficult to get those players into the top 10 or 15 linebackers in IDP leagues. A lot easier for Watt.

Search tools at pro-football-reference.com were used in compiling this table.

LINEBACKER SACKS, 2018-2021
Player	G	Sk	Solo	Ast	Comb	TFL	QBHits
T.J. Watt	62	65.0	176	64	240	70	137
Shaquil Barrett	46	37.5	125	41	166	39	75
Khalil Mack	53	36.0	121	42	163	35	52
Matt Judon	63	35.0	142	66	208	47	99
Za'Darius Smith	48	34.5	102	50	152	39	85
Chandler Jones	36	30.5	78	27	105	24	59
Preston Smith	64	29.0	120	69	189	32	67
Bud Dupree	54	28.0	115	43	158	34	53
Haason Reddick	48	27.5	133	78	211	35	40
Leonard Floyd	65	27.0	129	83	212	30	60
Von Miller	38	27.0	72	41	113	31	55
Harold Landry	49	26.5	140	72	212	36	52
Markus Golden	41	24.0	83	60	143	27	60
Jason Pierre-Paul	38	20.5	78	35	113	19	35
Bradley Chubb	37	19.5	76	47	123	24	44
Ryan Kerrigan	28	18.5	46	22	68	17	33
Dante Fowler	38	18.0	76	39	115	26	29
Whitney Mercilus	45	15.5	67	41	108	19	37
Jordan Jenkins	30	15.0	45	22	67	15	28
Darius Leonard	58	15.0	343	195	538	30	20
Malik Reed	45	15.0	74	49	123	15	30
Devon Kennard	31	14.0	75	29	104	18	29
Justin Houston	27	13.5	47	24	71	14	29
Dee Ford	16	13.0	42	13	55	13	29
Micah Parsons	16	13.0	64	20	84	20	30
Terrell Suggs	29	12.5	48	23	71	21	22
Samson Ebukam	48	12.0	69	50	119	14	23
Jamie Collins	32	11.0	131	54	185	23	17
Joey Bosa	16	10.5	36	15	51	5	20
Kyler Fackrell	16	10.5	29	13	42	12	12

Safest production to chase with linebackers in IDP leagues is tackles. But Watt is an exception, a guy who will get up among the elite options based on sacks, while averaging a modest 60 tackles per year. With the AFC North also offering up three of the most sacked quarterbacks on a per-game basis in recent years (Burrow, Watson and Jackson) that will probably continue.

--Andy Richardson

T.J. Watt

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