5 NFL Defenders Who Could Win Their First Sack Title in 2025

After knocking on the door in 2023, Trey Hendrickson finally broke through as the NFL’s sack king last year. The Cincinnati Bengals star earned the distinction with a second consecutive 17.5-sack campaign, matching his career high.

While Hendrickson clearly deserved the honor, he’ll be hard-pressed to become the league’s first back-to-back sack leader since T.J. Watt accomplished the feat in 2020 and '21.

There are several legitimate candidates to dethrone Hendrickson—whose contract dispute and absence from mandatory minicamp could hinder his chances to defend the title—in 2025. Some are well-established perennial Pro Bowlers, while others aren’t quite household names yet but have an opportunity to cement their star status with a standout season.

With that in mind, let’s highlight five defenders who can win their first sack title in 2025.

Will Anderson Jr., Houston Texans

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2024 Sack Total: 11 (No. 10 in NFL)

Career Sacks: 18 (two seasons)

Best Season: 11 sacks (2024)

The Houston Texans’ big bet on Will Anderson Jr. has been paying off.

After selecting him No. 3 overall in 2022—trading a slew of picks to move into position to make that pick—the team has watched him rapidly mature into one of the NFL’s bright young stars.

Anderson’s rookie numbers may have been modest (he recorded seven sacks), but he displayed plenty of promise while developing into a leader for an upstart club finally putting an extended rebuild in the rearview.

Although he played the same 63 percent of defensive snaps in 2024 that he did the prior season and appeared in one fewer contest due to injury, Anderson upped his sack count to 11—entering the top 10 in that category for the first of what is likely to be many times in his career. 

While Anderson has showed the world he's already one of the game's elite defenders, the rest of the league should fear his potential to make even bigger strides this offseason.

On the heels of earning an immensely impressive 85.1 grade from Pro Football Focus—ranking No. 10 out of 211 qualifying edge-rushers in 2024—Anderson could see a massive spike in his sack numbers by staying healthy and further building out his pass-rushing arsenal.

It helps that Danielle Hunter will be back for another go around in Houston. The veteran edge-rusher feasted with 12 sacks in his first Texans season and has real potential to breech the double-digit mark for the sixth time in seven seasons this coming year.

With Hunter helping keep opposing offensive linemen honest, Anderson looks poised to break out and get serious Defensive Player of the Year buzz in 2025.

Nik Bonitto, Denver Broncos

2024 Sack Total: 13.5 (No. 3 in NFL)

Career Sacks: 23 (three seasons)

Best Season: 13.5 sacks (2024)

Casual NFL fans may not know who Nik Bonitto is quite yet, but they almost certainly will by the end of the 2025 season .The Denver Broncos standout shot up the league's pass-rushing hierarchy with a 13.5-sack campaign in 2024, earning his first Pro Bowl nod in the process.

Bonitto sparingly saw the field as a rookie but began to realize his potential with eight sacks in 2023 and made massive strides in Year 3. Coming off a season in which he outperformed every defender but Trey Hendrickson and Myles Garrett in the sack column, Bonitto finds himself on the cusp of stardom.

Bonitto's ascendance was instrumental in Denver ranking No. 3 in the league in scoring defense last year. His disruption in the backfield helped guide the up-and-coming program to a surprise playoff berth out of the loaded AFC West.

Earning more playing time could help Bonitto make even bigger strides in 2025.

After entering the league as a promising pass-rusher with limited abilities against the run, Bonitto has developed into a more well-rounded talent who saw the field for a career-high 61 percent of defensive snaps in 2024. It was a stark increase from the 35 percent he saw as a rookie, but there’s still room for him to see even more action in 2025.

With Jonathon Cooper, Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers all back in the mix after combining for 26 sacks last year—plus third-round rookie Sai’vion Jones set to join the rotation—Bonitto will have plenty of support.

If Bonitto can leverage that assistance while improving his own blossoming skill set during the offseason, he'll be well on his way to competing for the sack title again in 2025.

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

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2024 Sack Total: 14 (No. 2 in NFL)

Career Sacks: 102.5 (eight seasons)

Best Season: 16 sacks (2021, 2022)

There’s not much that Myles Garrett has yet to accomplish during his outstanding eight-year run in the NFL. The superstar has amassed an awe-inspiring collection of hardware since entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, a resume that includes six Pro Bowl appearances, four All-Pro nods and a Defensive Player of the Year award.

While Garrett’s trophy case is clearly still missing an elusive Lombardi Trophy, it’s far more shocking that the Cleveland Browns star has yet to capture a sack title.

Garrett has come close on several occasions, including in 2024 when his 14 sacks were second only to Trey Hendrickson’s 17.5. He’s been the runner-up on one other occasion (2022) and has finished outside the top seven in sacks just once since the start of his sophomore season. Although T.J. Watt won the sack title twice in the last four seasons, Garrett’s 60 total sacks in that span lead the league.

It seems that Garrett could finally break through and tally more sacks than any other player in 2025. He’s not only playing some of his best football—evidenced by back-to-back All-Pro seasons—and being well-compensated after inking a blockbuster four-year extension, but his Browns provided some much-needed support after drafting two of the best defensive tackle prospects in the class.

With rookies Mason Graham and Mike Hall Jr. joining free-agent pickup Maliek Collins and incumbent Shelby Harris in the teeth of Cleveland’s defense, Garrett will have more opportunities to disrupt in the backfield and terrorize opposing quarterbacks.

If fellow edge defender Isaiah McGuire can take a leap in a pivotal third season, Garrett should thrive alongside arguably the best supporting cast he’s worked with since landing in Cleveland.

Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions

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2024 Sack Total: 7.5 (No. 36 in NFL)

Career Sacks: 28.5 (three seasons)

Best Season: 11.5 sacks (2023)

Aidan Hutchinson should be back with a vengeance in 2025.

After tallying an eye-popping 7.5 sacks over the first five games of last season, Hutchinson’s Year 3 breakout was cut short by a broken tibia and fibula. Prior to the injury, the Detroit Lions star was leading the league in sacks and was on a record-breaking 25.5-sack pace. He still finished tied for 36th in sacks on the year despite missing 12 games.

While it would have been challenging to stay on pace to break the longstanding 22.5-sack record had he stayed healthy, Hutchinson was playing the best football of his burgeoning career and would have had a great a chance of winning the sack title.

Although it’s not guaranteed that Hutchinson will return to form after suffering such a devastating injury, the edge-rusher claimed he would have suited for the Super Bowl had Detroit extended its playoff run into February. Now eight months removed from the leg injury, Hutchinson has said he’s “fully cleared” and ready to prepare for the 2025 campaign.

Expect Hutchinson to knock the rust off quickly and return to giving opposing offensive coordinators fits to plan for each week. If he’s at his peak in new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard’s system, he’ll contend for the sack title and Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys

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2024 Sack Total: 12 (No. 5 in NFL)

Career Sacks: 52.5 (four seasons)

Best Season: 14 sacks (2023)

The Dallas Cowboys struggled with health in 2024, losing some of their biggest stars to injury during a down campaign. Micah Parsons was one of the several premier talents to be sidelined for a stretch, but the versatile and dependable pass-rusher still managed to tally a respectable stat line.

Despite missing four games and suffering a slow start to the season, Parsons ultimately finished 2024 tied for the fifth-most sacks in the league. Surprisingly, the lowest sack mark of the superstar’s four-year career still represented his best placement in any single campaign's sack standings.

Parsons has been one of the most consistent defenders in football since the Cowboys selected him on Day 1 of the 2021 draft. He’s earned four Pro Bowl nods, a pair of All-Pro team nominations and notched over 50 sacks in that short span, although his career-best 14 sacks in 2023 only tied for the seventh-most in the NFL that year.

Now getting an opportunity to play in a new scheme being implemented by incoming defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the edge defender could finally lead the league in sacks.

Eberflus plans to deploy Parsons in a variety of ways to maximize his unique skill set, per Garrett Podell of CBS Sports:

“Micah is a premium pass rusher. We’re going to use him that way certainly. He’s a heck of an athlete and doing a lot of different things for us on defense. When you have a guy like that, you want to be able to utilize his skill set. As we’re around him more, we’ll be able to see what that skill set is and really take advantage of that.”

With a renewed focus on his prowess from the defensive end spot, Parsons may see his tackle numbers and other metrics fall, but his pressure rate and sack count should be near the top of the NFL's leaderboard next season.