Terrell Suggs has played in 18 postseason games over the course of his career. This weekend, he will play his 19th, but for the first time in a different uniform. The longtime member of the Baltimore Ravens signed with the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason, but after he was granted his release during the year, he was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City had a bye week through the first week of the postseason. They will host the Houston Texans and Deshaun Watson, and during this postseason, should have had a productive one, he will have a shot at an NFL record: the most sacks in the postseason over the course of a career.
Suggs has recorded 12.5 sacks in the postseason over his first 18 games. That currently stands as the third-most behind one name that won’t surprise you and one that probably will. Bruce Smith recorded 14.5 sacks in 20 career postseason games. With 16 sacks in 18 games played, Willie McGinest holds the NFL record for postseason sacks.
And so the former Defensive Player of the Year would have to record four sacks over the course of the next three games—assuming that the Chiefs get three games to play—in order to surpass McGinest and secure the record. But at the very least, he could start chipping away at it if he intends to continue to play beyond the 2019 season. He has recorded four or more sacks in a single postseason twice before, but not since 2010. He had two during the Ravens’ last Super Bowl run.
There is only one other player in NFL history to record 12 or more postseason sacks, and that would be Reggie White, who recorded 12 between 1988 and 1998. A total of nine additional players have at least hit double digits, and this is where you will find the Pittsburgh Steelers represented.
Both James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley are among five players tied for fifth all-time in career postseason sacks with 11. Woodley’s is vastly more notable, however. Harrison’s 11 sacks were compiled in an astonishing 22 postseason games, as many as anybody with at least five career postseason sacks.
Woodley? He recorded 11 sacks in just eight career postseason games. He is the only player in NFL history with at least eight career postseason sacks to do so in fewer than 10 games (though not necessarily the only player to reach eight sacks in fewer than 10 games). He and Mark Gastineau are the only players in NFL history to record more postseason sacks than games played while recording at least seven sacks.
