In 2001, Michael Strahan had 22.5 sacks, the most in a single season since 1982.

In 1987, Reggie White had 21 sacks in just 12 games, the highest per-game average since 1982.

In 1986, Lawrence Taylor won the AP MVP award and had 20.5 sacks.

Those three seasons were all great sack seasons, but I’d argue that DeMarcus Ware in 2008 – when he had 20.0 sacks – was the best sack season of the bunch.

Let’s start by looking at the NFL average sack rates (defined as sacks divided by sacks plus pass attempts) in each season since 1982, when the NFL began tracking sacks for individual defensive players. I have colored in red the ’86, ’87, ’01, and ’08 seasons.

Ware’s performance in 2008 came when the league sack rate was near its nadir: There have been only three seasons with a sack rate below six percent: 1994 (5.86%), 2008 (5.90%), and 2016 (5.76%). The sack rate in 1986 was 30% higher than the ’08 rate, the ’87 rate was 28% higher, and the ’01 rate was 17% higher. By contrast, Taylor, White, and Strahan had 3%, 5%, and 13% more sacks than Ware.

That alone might be enough to convince you, but consider: in 1986, the Giants defense faced a whopping 646 pass attempts (including sacks), which means Taylor had a lot of opportunities to get a sack. LT recorded a sack on 3.17% of pass plays the Giants faced. The 1987 Eagles defense faced 618 pass plays in 15 games. White, of course, played in 12 games. He missed the 3 games where replacement players was used, but in the 12 games that White and the regular NFL players were active, Philadelphia faced 520 pass plays. That means White recorded a sack on 4.04% of pass plays. Strahan and Ware both played on defenses that faced 567 pass plays: so Strahan had a sack on 3.97% of pass plays, while Ware had one on 3.53% of pass plays.

It’s clear that based on these three variables — number of sacks, league-average sack rate, and pass attempts faced — that Taylor’s season is the worst of the bunch. He had a sack on 3.17% of pass plays when the league average rate was 7.65%. White had a sack on 4.04% of plays when the average rate was 7.58%, Strahan had a sack on 3.97% of pass plays when the average rate was 6.88%, and Ware was at 3.53% in an era of 5.90%.

So what’s the best way to compare these sack rates across eras? Here’s what felt natural to me. Ware had 20 sacks while facing 567 pass plays; that means he had 17.64 sacks per 500 pass plays. ^[1]Why 500? It’s a round number. Strahan, with 22.5 sacks, had 19.84 sacks per 500 pass plays, and White (21 sacks) had 20.19 sacks per 500 pass plays. Meanwhile, the sack rate in 2008 was 86.7% of the league average sack rate from ’82 to ’17; therefore, in a neutral, era-adjusted environment, Ware 2008 would have 20.33 sacks per 500 pass attempts.

Strahan played in an environment where the sack rate was 101.2% of the ’82-’17 average; therefore, his 19.84 sacks translates to 19.61 sacks per 500 pass attempts in a neutral era. White? The sack rate was 111.4% of average in ’87, so he gets 18.13 sacks per 500 pass attempts. And Taylor? His 20.5 sacks becomes 15.87 sacks per 500 pass attempts, and after adjusting for era (112.4%), it lowers to 14.11 sacks per 500 pass attempts.

What do you think? Below are the top 50 seasons by this measure, which is similar to the methodology from this post two years ago. ^[2]One difference: I did not pro-rate partial game seasons, so Jared Allen playing in 14 games in 2007 hurts him more here.

What do you think?