Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Commanders fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The question
In this week’s Reacts survey, we have only one question, and it focuses on the defense. We want to know who you believe will lead the team in sacks this season.
Setting the official bar
For all those who might not know, the all-time official sack leader for the Washington franchise is Ryan Kerrigan.
Per
Pro Football Reference, he finished his 11-year career in burgundy & gold with 95.5 sacks, finishing with at least 11 sacks in a season four times. His highest total was 13.5 in 2014, but in ’18 & ’19, he put together back-to-back seasons with 13 sacks each. His final two years in DC were his least productive from a sack perspective, yielding 5.5 sacks per season. His consistency extended to his ability to stay healthy as well; in 11 seasons, he missed only 4 games, all of them in 2019.
The ‘unofficial’ career sack leader for the Redskins
Older fans may remember watching the wrecking ball named Dexter Manley, who played on two of Washington’s super bowl winning teams back in the last century. Many people will insist that it is Manley, not Kerrigan, who deserves the mantle of ‘all time franchise sack leader’.
The argument rests entirely on the 6.0 unofficial sacks that Dexter recorded during his rookie season in 1981, which came right before the NFL began tracking sacks as an official statistic.
Seen in this light, Manley set the standard in his 9 seasons playing in a Redskins uniform.
How many sacks have some of Washington’s veteran front line defenders tallied so far in their NFL careers?
Let’s look at some current Washington players to see what kind of sack numbers they have put up in their careers.
One thing that jumps out at me is that Deatrich Wise tops the list despite having played less than 2 games in 2025 and, thus, producing zero sacks. At 31 years of age, Wise played for 9 years in New England before joining the Commanders, averaging about 4.5 sacks per season, with a low of 2 in a Patriots uniform in 2019.
Dorance Armstrong, currently 29 y.o., was on a 1-sack-per-game pace last season before getting injured in Week 7 and missing the final 10 games. In his 6 seasons with the Cowboys, he compiled just 2.5 sacks in his first three years, but 21 in his final three years in Dallas playing for Dan Quinn. He has produced 10.5 sacks in 23 games as a Commander. His career average is 5 sacks per 17 games.
Odafe Oweh is 27 years old, and is the only player on this list to have double-digit sacks in a single season, which he accomplished in 2024 playing for the Ravens. He had strong production in 2025 as a Charger, when he finished the season tallying 7.5 sacks in 12 games. His career average is 6.6 sacks per 17 games.
Charles Omenihu is 28 years old and has played for 3 different teams in his 7 year career. Despite getting blanked in 2021, Omenihu averages 4.1 sacks per 17 games for his career.
K’Lavon Chaisson is the youngest player on this list at 26 y.o. He produced just 5 sacks in 4 seasons playing on his rookie contract in Jacksonville. In 2024, as a Raider, he compiled 5 sacks, and playing for the Patriots in ‘25, he tallied 7.5 sacks. With 12.5 sacks over the past two years, the Commanders believe that he will be totally unleashed as an inside pass rusher in Daronte Jones’ defensive scheme here in Washington.
The rookie
Here are the college stats for rookie 5th round pick, Joshua Josephs:
| Tackles | Def Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Comb | TFL | Sk | Int | Yds | IntTD | PD | FR | Yds | FRTD | FF | Awards |
| 2022* | Tennessee | SEC | FR | DL | 12 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2023* | Tennessee | SEC | SO | DL | 12 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2024 | Tennessee | SEC | JR | DL | 13 | 17 | 22 | 39 | 9.0 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2025* | Tennessee | SEC | SR | DL | 11 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 41 | 1 | 3 | |
| Career | 48 | 51 | 53 | 104 | 22.0 | 9.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 41 | 1 | 6 | |||||
A few other Washington defenders
Daron Payne averages 4.8 sacks per 17 games. His career high is 11.5 sacks in ‘22; his low was 2 sacks in 2019.
Tim Settle averages 2.1 sacks per 17 games, but has twice tallied 5 sacks in a single season (’20 & ‘24).
Frankie Luvu averages 4.3 sacks per 17 games. He was highly productive from 2022 to 2024, with 7, 5.5, 8 sacks respectively. He’s had 3 or fewer sacks in his each of his other 5 NFL seasons.
Leo Chenal has played 4 NFL seasons as a part-time LB in Kansas City (about 40% of defensive snaps) and has a career high of 3 sacks in 2023.
Rookie Sonny Styles had 9 sacks in his Ohio State career, with 6 coming in 16 games in 2024.
Comments & Results
Of course, we invite you to answer the survey question below, but also feel free to expand on your answer and provide nuance in the comments section. While you are certainly free to simply share which choice you made on the survey question, the most interesting comments will explain why you answered the way you did. I rely on those comments when discussing the results of the survey when they are posted in a separate article the next few days.
