, the standout pass rusher and reigning defensive player of the year, created a fervor recently when he threw out an eye-popping goal for his sack total this season.
The way Mack sees it, he could tally 30 sacks in 2017. That’s what he told Peter King of MMQB.com earlier this week. Never mind that the NFL record, set by Michael Strahan in 2001, is 22½ sacks or that Mack has never had more than 15 sacks in a season.
Count Mack’s AFC West counterpart, the Broncos’ , as one player who thinks 30 sacks is a reachable mark in this age of pass-rushing stars.
“I think it is,” Miller said Wednesday when asked if such a lofty number was realistic. “You’ve got to come out and get 10 in that first month, which is doable. You get two-and-a-half and then get two-and-a-half the next game and two-and-a-half the game after that. You might miss a game and then you get two-and-a-half again and you have 10 in five games. Then you get three, two, three. It’s definitely doable.”
Miller, who holds the Broncos’ single-season record for sacks with 18½ in 2012, said setting a new standard comes down to making the math work in a pass rusher’s favor. With running backs and tight ends constantly chipping dangerous edge rushers, Miller estimates he gets five “open” rushes — a one-on-one matchup with a tackle on a passing down — per game.
“If you get five open rushes, you have to win all five of those rushes,” Miller said. “Out of those five, you might get two or three sacks out of those. That’s the math that I have on it. Out of those five plays, you have to get home on all of those plays.”
Miller may face even more attention from offenses than usual, particularly early in the season. Between the retirement of and injuries to outside linebackers and , Denver finds itself thin in the pass-rushing stable.
It likely means the Broncos will be bubble-wrap careful with Miller during the preseason, which begins for Denver on Aug. 10 at Chicago.
Miller said he is not concerned with how much playing time he will get in exhibition games.
“I’m thinking about my Instagram more than my preseason snaps,” he said. “Whatever coach (Vance) Joseph says, I’m going to be ready to go. Whatever he’s got for me.”
