Broncos' Nik Bonitto continues to climb all-time EDGE defender lists

With the NFL being a "passing league" the role of the edge defender is primarily to rush the passer, but lighter edge defenders still have to be able to set the edge on running plays. If not, they will be exploited in the run game. One measure of how well a player sets the edge is tackles for loss. The NFL has only been officially tracking tackles for loss (TFL) since 1999, so players who were elite defenders in the 1980s like Lawrence Taylor, Bruce Smith and Karl Mecklenburg will not show up on the lists in this article. According to official NFL stats, Terrell Suggs has the most career TFLs with 202. Former Denver Broncos great Von Miller is tied for 4th with 177.

Recently un-retired Aaron Donald is right behind Miller with 176. Miller and Campbell are still active. Cameron Jordan is the only other active player in the top 10. He and Miller are both 37. Campbell is 40. The number of active defenders in the NFL in the their late 30s can usually be counted on one hand.

Myles Garrett, Khalil Mack, Danielle Hunter, TJ Watt, Maxx Crosby and Cameron Heyward are active all in the top 20. Of course, tackles for loss are not a stat that is agreed upon across sites. Pro-football-reference.com and sisdatahub.com don't agree. Garrett led the NFL in TFL according to PFR last season with 33, while SIS credits him with 40.

Denver Broncos' Nik Bonitto is in the top all-time in tackles for loss per game

PFR shows that Bonitto had 14 TFL last season, which led the Broncos, while SIS credits him with 20. In researching this, it appears that SIS will give credit to two players if both combine on a TFL, while PFR (and NFLGSIS) only give one player credit for the TFL. According to PFR, Bonitto has 44 career TFL. SIS shows him with 56.

SIS data only goes back to 2016, but below is a list of the top TFL players over the last ten seasons according to SIS.

Bonitto's 11.7 TFL per season (17 games) ranks in the top 50 all-time (tied for 46th). Former Broncos Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware are 12th and 9th respectively.

Looking at the PFR (NFL.com) data and comparing it to the SIS data, you find that over the last ten seasons, SIS has averaged 32% more TFL (comparing the top 200 players for TFL over the last 10 seasons). The values for some players like Harold Landry, Hines-Allen, Crosby and Hunter are relatively close.

The player who has the most TFL "lost" by this counting difference is TJ Watt. He has 194 TFL during his career according to SISdatahub.com. According to PFR he only has 136 TFL. Lavonte David and Haason Reddick are the only other two players who have a difference of fifty or more.

In terms of TFL in single season, the most ever by a player 2016 to 2025 according to SIS is 40 by Myles Garrett last season. The next most by a player during this time was 35 by Luke Kuechly in 2018. The most by a Bronco is a tie between Von Miller in 2018 and Zach Allen in 2024. They both had 22. According to PFR, the most TFL ever in a season was JJ Watt in 2012, who had 39. SIS does not go back that far; it is safe to say that SIS would have credited Watt with more than 39. Myles Garrett's 33 last season is amazing given that he was 30 last season. The only other player to make this list in their 30s was Hall of Famer Michael Strahan.

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