10 NFL records that could actually go down during the 2026 season

Myles Garrett finally did it. After years of players trying to pass Michael Strahan and that pitter patter sack of Brett Favre in 2001. Twenty years later, T.J. Watt tied the record of 22.5 sacks, but it took until 2025 for Garrett to break through and hit 23 sacks. He broke the record, won Defensive Player of the Year, and got traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Now that he’s on an insane team that should force opposing teams to pass more, Garrett might break his own record this year (especially if Aaron Donald takes away some of the offensive line’s focus).

You may not be aware of some of the other records that were broken last season. Did you know that Chimere Dike broke Tim Brown’s record for all-purpose yards by a rookie? Cam Little broke both the indoor and outdoor longest field goal record. Thanks to his 17 points in the Super Bowl, Jason Myers broke the points scored record that has been held by Ladainian Tomlinson forever. 

Who else could break records every year? Is one of Tom Brady’s many records in jeopardy? Could this finally be the year we see Calvin Johnson’s record go down? Will any of the unbreakable records go down?

1. Single-season rushing record

• Current record holder: Eric Dickerson
• Who could break it? Jahmyr Gibbs

Let’s start with a record that has probably been on this list for years. This record should have gone down a few years ago in Saquon Barkley’s first season with the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a chance to break it during Week 18, but he chose to rest that week to prepare for the playoffs. The Eagles won the Super Bowl that season, so it was probably the right decision overall, but the one thing that might last longer than Super Bowl glory is unbreakable records.

Now that Barkley took a step back, this record is available to be broken. And we have the perfect candidate. The Detroit Lions have been riding the Jahmyr Gibbs-David Montgomery train to glory. This season, Montgomery is in Houston and he was replaced by Isaiah Pacheco. We’ve seen what Pacheco does when he was in Kansas City, and we don’t think his impact is going to replace Montgomery’s.

And that is going to force Dan Campbell to rely on his star running back even more. Gibbs just signed a massive contract, and he seems like the kind of player who wants to prove everyone right for giving him the bag. So, the focus on Gibbs with the new contract and the fact that the Lions need him to deliver, on top of a really good passing offense protecting him from certain defensive sets, will allow him to get past 2,105 rushing yards, which has been the record for more than 40 years.

2. Most career tackles

• Current record holder: Ray Lewis
• Who could break it? Bobby Wagner

There are a few records that are speculative on this list, but this one is as close to a sure thing as we can think of. And we’re saying that while Bobby Wagner is literally not on a roster as of this writing. Wagner is biding his time while training camp and the preseason move through the motions. He can choose a team where he can be on a contender.

Teams are checking in on Wagner, and there’s no chance he’s not on a roster this season. Despite being 36 years old, Wagner is still putting up big numbers. Last season with the Washington Commanders, he had 162 tackles and 4.5 sacks. That’s essentially what he has been doing his entire career. It was the first time he hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2013, but that had to have been an oversight. 

Right now, Wagner has exactly 2,000 combined tackles. Two people are ahead of him on the all-time list: Ray Lewis and London Fletcher. If Wagner secures half of the tackles that he had last season, he would break Lewis’s record. He needs 59 tackles to pass the Ravens all-time great. As far as solo tackles are concerned, he’s too far away to pass it this season, but if he plays until he’s 40, he can break that record, too. 

3. Single-season receptions

• Current record holder: Michael Thomas
• Who could break it? Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Jaxon Smith-Njigba was one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 season. He was good coming into the year, but he immediately put himself into the conversation with Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and CeeDee Lamb. Not only that, but unlike the receivers we just named, he helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship. What could be better than that? How about if Smith-Njigba breaks one of the most important records at his position?

While we all know about the Calvin Johnson record for receiving yards and how no player at the position has ever broken 2,000 receiving yards, the receptions record is something JSN could break. The man with the tightest spiral, Sam Darnold, will help get the ball in Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s hands on most downs. 

He would need a massive jump in production and a slightly different philosophy in the Seahawks offense, which many might think is unlikely, but if he’s focused on possessions over big plays, this could be a record he breaks. He would need 31 more receptions to hit 150, which would break Michael Thomas’s record. Would he also break Megatron’s record if he got that many receptions? It’s certainly possible he has a season close to his teammate, Cooper Kupp, where he led all receivers in just about every category. 

4. Passing completions per game

• Current record holder: Drew Brees
• Who could break it? Joe Burrow

Technically speaking, Drew Brees and Joe Burrow are essentially tied for this record. Both have 24.9 passing completions per game in their career. Of course, Burrow is entering his prime, and Brees had a whole post-prime career that’s included here, so there’s some context to this record, but a leader is a leader, and Burrow is going to overtake Brees this season.

Another season where Burrow is playing at the top of his game with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on his flank will lead to another superstar season. They also lost Trey Hendrickson (but they did add Dexter Lawrence), so the defense isn’t exactly going to turn things around. Burrow is going to have to throw. A lot. 

Those throws are going to lead to way more than 25 receptions per game. He averaged 27 completions per game in 2024, but it dropped a little last year because he left a few games with injuries. That dropped his production to 22 completions per game, which included a seven-completion performance in Week 2. When he returned in Week 13, he never had fewer than 24 receptions in a game.

5. Most rush attempts by a QB

• Current record holder: Cam Newton
• Who could break it? Lamar Jackson

Cam Newton retired with a lot of the rushing quarterback records, but little by little, they are starting to fall. Josh Allen broke the rushing touchdown record and is likely to push that to an untouchable place by the time he retires. Lamar Jackson broke Michael Vick’s career rushing yards record. The one that still stands for the old guard is total rushing attempts. Newton still holds that one with 1,118 attempts in his career, helped by an offense built around his rushing at the end of his career in New England. 

Jackson, barring injury, will break Newton’s record this season. He’s sitting at 1,081 rushing attempts. He will likely break the record by Week 6. He needs 37 rushing attempts to break the record, and even though there is a completely different regime in Baltimore for the first time in Jackson’s career, we can’t see them moving away from a rushing-focused offense that includes the quarterback. 

This is an interesting sign for the future of Jackson. Newton’s and Vick’s rushing eventually put too much wear and tear on their bodies. Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco and others are older than Newton and still playing, while the former MVP has been a media personality for years. Being a rush-first quarterback is the reason for that. Will Jackson suffer the same fate?

6. Playoff rushing touchdowns by a QB

• Current record holder: Jalen Hurts
• Who could break it? Josh Allen

Sticking with the rushing quarterback theme, Josh Allen already holds the regular-season record for rushing touchdowns, but he does not hold the playoff record. That’s actually held by an active player: Jalen Hurts. Allen and Hurts could trade this record off for years. 

Right now, Hurts has 10 touchdowns in the playoffs, and Allen has nine. We can see the Bills finally making a run this season, and his legs will need to be a big part of their offensive strategy. New head coach Joe Brady will push for an offense that gives the Bills an advantage, and always having Allen as a rushing threat gives them that advantage. In the playoffs, that will be even more important. 

What’s interesting is that Hurts and Allen are also the overall active playoff touchdown leaders. No running back playing today has more playoff rushing touchdowns than either Allen or Hurts. Saquon Barkley is the closest with seven, tied with Derrick Henry, Kareem Hunt, and Aaron Jones. Allen is 10 touchdowns away from the overall playoff rushing touchdowns record currently held by Franco Harris. Could Allen finish his career with 20 career playoff rushing touchdowns? It doesn’t feel out of reach.

7. Career passer rating

• Current record holder: Aaron Rodgers/Lamar Jackson
• Who could break it? Aaron Rodgers

Alright, so this one might feel like cheating a little bit since Aaron Rodgers technically shares this honor with Lamar Jackson, but we think there is no way in heck that Rodgers will allow himself to finish his career with anything other than his record intact and him alone at the top. We see him being very safe towards the end of the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers to avoid interceptions, something he’s done for most of his career. 

Rodgers is in the twilight of his career, and it’s very likely this is his final year. He wants to have as many records with his name attached as possible. With Tom Brady and Peyton Manning holding court on so much of the record books, Rodgers has to take what he can get. Some of these records are just too much for him to overcome.

So, where he can get a record, he will keep that record. Rodgers is going to be the all-time passer rating leader. And while much of the NFL analysis has moved past passer rating as a relevant statistic, it’s still used among some of the old-school NFL circles. Rodgers wants to be able to say he holds that record, and he will do it by any means necessary. 

8. Postseason career receiving touchdowns

• Current record holder: Jerry Rice
• Who could break it? Travis Kelce

Jerry Rice holds all of the career receiving records, and most of them are untouchable. He might be the greatest football player ever. He and Lawrence Taylor are the only two who really have a case alongside Tom Brady at this point. And yet, we could see one of his records fall, and it might be his most important record. Rice during the regularseason was great, but Rice in the playoffs was absolutely legendary.

Travis Kelce surprisingly returned to football this year after a disastrous season with the Kansas City Chiefs and after marrying a literal billionaire. Football is a luxury at this point between his wife’s music conglomerate and his podcasting success, but he wanted to give it one more shot at 36 years old. 

It was clear that Kelce lost a step last season, but he is still an effective tight end. In the playoffs, he just needs two touchdowns to tie Rice and three to pass him. It is a tall ask, but Kelce had three or more receiving touchdowns every playoff year from 2019 to 2023. Knowing he can pass Rice, Patrick Mahomes will help him get the record. 

9. Longest field goal

• Current record holder: Cam Little
• Who could break it? Cam Little

On Aug. 9, 2025, Cam Little stepped onto the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers and casually drilled a 70-yarder as time expired in the first half. The kick reportedly had enough juice to go 72 or 73 yards, but because it was in the preseason, it doesn't count as an official NFL record. Well, we’ve seen him do it once, and he does currently have the record for longest NFL field goal, but Little is primed to be different as an NFL kicker.

We’re already seeing more and more kicks from longer distances go through the uprights. Prior to this decade, seeing a 60-yard field goal was nearly impossible. Five of the seven longest field goals in the history of football have been kicked in the last three years, and three of them were kicked last season. We’re in a massive leg era of the NFL, and like Steph Curry impacted the NBA’s three-point renaissance, this will change how game plans work. 

Little seems like he’s going to keep breaking his record until he finds the limit of human capacity. How strong can a leg be? Cam Little is testing that.

10. Most sacks by a team in a season

• Current record holder: 1984 Chicago Bears
• Who could break it? 2026 Denver Broncos

Last season, the Denver Broncos sacked quarterbacks 68 times, using a team approach to get to the quarterback. Seventeen players saw themselves on the stat sheet in the sacks column, with Nik Bonito leading the team with 14 sacks. Barring injury, there’s nothing stopping Bonito from repeating that success. With him leading the team, the Broncos can realistically break the record. 

The Broncos need 72.5 sacks to break the Chicago Bears’ record from 1984. This has stood the test of time for a long time, but there are more plays, an extra game on the schedule compared to that era, and teams throw the ball more and more. The one thing hurting the Broncos is that their division should be better, but Fernando Mendoza is probably going to get sacked a ton, and the rest of their schedule isn’t terrible. 

Zach Allen, Jonathon Cooper, Jonah Elliss, and others give Denver multiple avenues to generate pressure. Allen even talked about breaking the record, showing this is a motivating factor for the Broncos. It’s one thing to unknowingly break a record strictly by being great. It’s another thing to have it as a clear motivation. The Broncos will ride that motivation to the record books. 

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