Stat of the Jay: How Many Bengals Players Have Recorded a Sack in Their First NFL Game?

CINCINNATI – When Cincinnati Bengals first-round pick Shemar Stewart takes the field Sunday for the season opener against the Cleveland Browns, he will attempt to do something only one other player in franchise history has accomplished.

Record a full sack in his first career game.

Technically, four players have done it for the Bengals, but three of them were replacement players during the 1987 strike.

The only true Bengals player to record a sack in his first career game was James Francis in 1990, when he dropped the New York Jets Ken O’Brien with 4:47 left in a 25-20 Cincinnati win.

Like Stewart, Francis was a first-round pick. The Bengals selected him with the No. 12 pick out of Baylor. Stewart was this year’s 17th pick out of Texas A&M.

Francis recorded six sacks in his first five games and finished his rookie year with eight, which would stand as his career high during his 10-year career.

DeShawn Williams – who signed with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent out of Clemson and played 12 games for Carolina last season – recorded a half sack in his first career game in 2016, sharing it with Carlos Dunlap against Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz.

The NFL record for most sacks in a debut is three, shared by Cleveland’s Chip Banks in 1982 and Tennessee’s Carlos Hall in 2002.

There are 16 players who had more than one sack in their NFL debut (1987 strike games excluded), one of whom the Bengals will face Sunday afternoon in Cleveland in future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett.

Here’s how many games it took each of the top 10 active sack leaders in the league to record the first sacks of their careers:

Von Miller (129.5) – Second game, vs. Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton

Cameron Jordan (121.5) – 16th game, vs. Carolina’s Cam Newton

Calais Campbell (110.5) – 18th game, half sack vs. Jacksonville’s David Garrard

T.J. Watt (108) – First game, two sacks vs. Cleveland’s Deshone Kizer

Khalil Mack (107.5) – 10th game, vs. San Diego’s Philip Rivers

Myles Garrett (102.5) – First game, two sacks vs. New York Jets’ Josh McCown

Danielle Hunter (99.5) – Third game, half sack vs. Kansas City’s Alex Smith

Cameron Heyward (88.5) – Fifth game, vs. Tennessee’s Matt Hasselbeck

Chris Jones (80.5) – Seventh game, vs. Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck

Trey Hendrickson (77) – Second game, vs. Carolina’s Cam Newton

 If you’re wondering about the three strike players who recorded sacks in their NFL debut for the Bengals, they were Bill Berthusen, Toney Catchings and Scott Schutt.

None of the three ever played again after the regular players returned.