Houston is 1-4, but Will Anderson Jr. is setting the pace in the NFL sack race. Through five weeks of the 2026 season, the Texans defensive end leads the NFL with 7.5 sacks, 1.5 ahead of Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau.
Anderson padded the lead in Sunday’s 26-3 win at Tennessee, sacking Cam Ward three times in a span of about nine minutes in the fourth quarter. Two of those sacks came on fourth down. It was the second three-sack regular-season game of his career.
The sack leaders after Week 5
| # | Player | Team | Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Anderson Jr. | HOU | 7.5 |
| 2 | Greg Rousseau | BUF | 6.0 |
| 3 | Dallas Turner | MIN | 5.5 |
| 4 | David Bailey | NYJ | 5.0 |
| 4 | DJ Wonnum | DET | 5.0 |
| 6 | T.J. Watt | PIT | 4.5 |
| 6 | Elijah Ponder | NE | 4.5 |
A group at 4.0 sacks includes Indianapolis’ DeForest Buckner, Minnesota’s Andrew Van Ginkel and Denver’s Zach Allen, according to league defensive statistics.
Game by game
Anderson has recorded at least a half-sack in every game this season: 0.5 against Buffalo in Week 1, 1.0 against Cincinnati, 2.5 at Indianapolis, 0.5 against Dallas and 3.0 at Tennessee. The Texans say only two other players in franchise history, J.J. Watt and Antonio Smith, opened a season with a sack in each of the first five games.
He is also the only player in the league with at least 2.5 sacks in more than one game this season, per the team’s game notes. His 11.5 tackles for loss add to the picture, along with 27 total tackles and a forced fumble in the Week 3 game at Indianapolis.
The pace question
At 1.5 sacks per game, Anderson’s 17-game pace works out to 25.5. The official single-season record is 22.5, shared by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021). Five games is a small sample, and few pass rushers sustain that kind of rate over a full season.
Houston’s streaks behind him
The Texans have recorded at least one sack in 25 consecutive games, a franchise record that dates to December 2024. Houston has also gone seven straight regular-season games without allowing 90 rushing yards, the longest active streak in the NFL. Against Tennessee the defense allowed 187 total yards and no touchdowns.
Next up: London
Anderson and the Texans face the 4-1 Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, with kickoff at 9:30 a.m. ET (4:30 p.m. Cairo). Rousseau’s Bills visit Las Vegas, Bailey’s Jets travel to New England, and Watt’s Steelers play at Tampa Bay. Turner, Van Ginkel and Wonnum will sit, with Minnesota and Detroit on bye.
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