Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt reached an incredible milestone for an NFL defensive player at just 30-years old.
In Week 5 during his team's "Sunday Night Football" loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Watt recorded his 100th and 101st career sacks, becoming the 44th player since 1982 (when sacks became an officially recorded stat) to reach the century mark.
100 CAREER SACKS!! @_TJWatt is a mad man
— NFL (@NFL) October 7, 2024
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Watt became the second-fastest player in NFL history (since 1982) to achieve that feat, behind only Pro Football Hall of Famer Reggie White.
Now, as he continues his already Canton-considerable career, all eyes begin to shift toward his potential next 100 sacks.
Only one player in NFL history has recorded 200 career sacks: Hall of Famer Bruce Smith.
The long-time Buffalo Bills defensive end reached the NFL-record mark in 279 career games, that's a 0.72 sacks per game pace.
Watt is currently on an insane 0.93 sacks per game pace after playing 109 career games. Now, that pace may not be sustainable for the rest of Watt's career, but if he did maintain it and play the same amount of games Smith did, then he would tally an estimated 259 career sacks.
If Watt were to regress to Smith's pace, however, it is still totally possible he could reach the 200 career sack mark.
Of course, that is all contingent on Watt's health. He's missed a total of nine games to injury in his eight years in the league.
There are six active players ahead of Watt on the career sacks list, all having played at least 10 years in the league so far. Watt still has a lot of ground to cover, but the math suggests he's one player who could do what was previously thought impossible.
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