Myles Garrett Says He Expects to Break Historic NFL Sack Record, 'Written in My Mind'

Needing just five sacks to set a new single-season NFL record with six games left to play, Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett fully expects to make history.

Speaking to reporters this week ahead of Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers, Garrett said the sack record has "already been written in my mind" and it's just a question of how high his total will climb:

"I don't even think about it as a want — I just think about something that I'm going to knock down. It's already been written in my mind that it's going just how far I'm going to take it. So, just going to go out there and do what I do, and whatever number I end up at."

The NFL record for sacks in a season is 22.5, held by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt. Al Baker is the unofficial single-season record holder with 23 sacks in 1978, but the league didn't make sacks an official stat until the 1982 season.

Regardless of which record gets acknowledged, it's hard to envision a scenario in which Garrett doesn't top it given the run he is on right now.

Garrett enters Week 13 sitting at 18 sacks, five more than any other player in the NFL. He has more sacks on his own than the entire defense for the Carolina Panthers (16) and 49ers (13).

Even more impressive is that the vast majority of Garrett's damage has been done in the last five games. He only had four sacks through his first six games, with none in three consecutive games from Weeks 4-6.

Since Week 7, Garrett has 19 quarterback hits, 18 tackles for loss and 14 sacks. He has taken down the opposing quarterback at least three times in three of the last four games.

The remaining teams on Cleveland's schedule are the 49ers, Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

Garrett does have a five-sack game on his resume already this season in Week 8 against the New England Patriots. If he can do that against San Francisco, he will match Baker's single-season total.

Per ESPN's pass-block win rate, the 49ers, Titans and Bengals all rank in the bottom half of the league.

Sunday's game against the Niners could be difficult for Garrett to add to his sack total because the weather forecast in Cleveland might force both teams to rely heavily on the running game to move the ball.