10 NFL records with a good chance to fall in 2020
By Matt Conner
Most Forced Fumbles in a Single Season
Last year, both Chandler Jones of the Arizona Cardinals and T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers landed near the top of the NFL’s all-time list for most fumbles forced in a single season. They tied each other for most in the NFL with 8 apiece, yet both players have every reason to believe they can do even better in 2020.
The Steelers were putting together a truly fearsome defensive unit in 2019, but it was also one that had to carry the full weight of a team that still wanted to crash the postseason despite featuring their third string quarterback much of the season after injuries to both Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph. Now Chris Wormley has been added to the front line and Minkah Fitzpatrick is in place from the start, meaning the Steelers might be even better on defense in 2020. That could mean bigger things for Watt.
The same can be said in the desert where the Cardinals might be putting some surprising pieces together. Jones has long been the single most underrated pass rusher in the NFL, but now he’s got the draft’s most exciting defender in Isaiah Simmons as a teammate to go with new front seven imports like lineman Jordan Phillips and linebackers Devon Kennard and De’Vondre Campbell. If he doesn’t have to shoulder so much responsibility in 2020, Jones could become a turnover machine.
The record here belongs to several players with 10 forced fumbles in a season. Most recently, Robert Mathis of the Indianapolis Colts matched the feat in 2013, one year after Charlest Tillman of the Chicago Bears did the same. Cornerback Dwayne Harper of the Seattle Seahawks was the first to accomplish the feat, and Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants matched him in 2010. Perhaps it’s time for one player to hold the title.