Broncos' unofficial all-time sack list now includes pre-1982 sack totals

The NFL did not begin tracking sacks as an official stat until 1982. So all defenders who played before the 1982 don’t have official sacks on their resumes.

Thanks to Pro Football Reference, though, we now know the unofficial sack totals for every NFL player dating back to 1960. PFR did the research to update the league’s all-time sack totals, and there are several interesting nuggets for the Denver Broncos.

The big risers on Denver’s all-time sack list are Barney Chavous and Lyle Alzado. Officially, Chavous totaled 23 sacks in his career, 10th-most in franchise history. Unofficially, his resume now includes 75 sacks, good for fourth place on the team’s all-time list.

Alzado played in Denver during the pre-sack stat era, so all of his 64.5 sacks with the Broncos are unofficial. If they counted, Alzado would rank sixth on the team’s all-time sack list.

Here’s a look at the team’s unofficial top-15 sack artists, courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.