List of NFL annual tackles leaders explained

This is a list of National Football League (NFL) players who have led the regular season in solo and combined tackles each year.

The record for most solo tackles is held by Ray Lewis, who made 156 in the season, while the record for most combined tackles belongs to Hardy Nickerson, who made 214 in .

According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, the solo tackles are counted since , and the combined tackles since .

Solo tackles leaders

Set record*

Year	Player	Solo tackles	Team
1994	Junior Seau	124*	San Diego Chargers
	Chris Spielman	Detroit Lions
1995	Terry Wooden	114	Seattle Seahawks
1996	Victor Green	123	New York Jets
1997	Ray Lewis	156*	Baltimore Ravens
1998	Derrick Brooks	123	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1999	Ray Lewis (2)	130	Baltimore Ravens
2000	Derrick Brooks (2)	123	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2001	Ray Lewis (3)	114	Baltimore Ravens
2002	Brian Urlacher	117	Chicago Bears
2003	Keith Brooking	126	Atlanta Falcons
2004	Derrick Brooks (3)	109	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2005	Jonathan Vilma	128	New York Jets
2006	DeMeco Ryans	126	Houston Texans
2007	Patrick Willis	136	San Francisco 49ers
2008	Jon Beason	110	Carolina Panthers
2009	Patrick Willis (2)	114	San Francisco 49ers
2010	Jerod Mayo	113	New England Patriots
2011	D'Qwell Jackson	116	Cleveland Browns
2012	James Laurinaitis	117	St. Louis Rams
2013	Paul Posluszny	122	Jacksonville Jaguars
2014	DeAndre Levy	117	Detroit Lions
2015	NaVorro Bowman	116	San Francisco 49ers
2016	Kwon Alexander	108	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2017	Demario Davis	97	New York Jets
	Bobby Wagner		Seattle Seahawks
2018	Shaquille Leonard	111	Indianapolis Colts
2019	Budda Baker	104	Arizona Cardinals
2020	Zach Cunningham	106	Houston Texans
2021	Jordyn Brooks	109	Seattle Seahawks
2022	Foyesade Oluokun	128	Jacksonville Jaguars
2023	Foyesade Oluokun (2)	111	Jacksonville Jaguars

Source:^[1]

Combined tackles leaders

Set record*

Year	Player	Combined tackles	Team
1978	Clay Matthews Jr.	34*	Cleveland Browns
1979	Clay Matthews Jr. (2)	103*	Cleveland Browns
1980	Monte Coleman	118*	Washington Redskins
1981	Clay Matthews Jr. (3)	128*	Cleveland Browns
1982	Ronnie Lott	68	San Francisco 49ers
1983	Dennis Smith	114	Denver Broncos
1984	Clay Matthews Jr. (4)	126	Cleveland Browns
1985	Kyle Clifton	160*	New York Jets
1986	Kyle Clifton (2)	174*	New York Jets
1987	Jesse Solomon	126	Minnesota Vikings
1988	Kyle Clifton (3)	162	New York Jets
1989	Byron Evans	184*	Philadelphia Eagles
1990	Jessie Tuggle	201*	Atlanta Falcons
1991	Jessie Tuggle (2)	207*	Atlanta Falcons
1992	Jessie Tuggle (3)	193	Atlanta Falcons
1993	Hardy Nickerson	214*	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1994	Jeff Herrod	200	Indianapolis Colts
1995	Jessie Tuggle (4)	152	Atlanta Falcons
1996	Victor Green	165	New York Jets
1997	Ray Lewis	184	Baltimore Ravens
1998	Derrick Brooks	158	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1999	Ray Lewis (2)	165	Baltimore Ravens
2000	Mike Peterson	160	Indianapolis Colts
2001	Ray Lewis (3)	162	Baltimore Ravens
2002	Zach Thomas	156	Miami Dolphins
2003	Jamie Sharper	166	Houston Texans
2004	Keith Bulluck	152	Tennessee Titans
	Donnie Edwards		San Diego Chargers
2005	Jonathan Vilma	173	New York Jets
2006	Zach Thomas (2)	165	Miami Dolphins
2007	Patrick Willis	174	San Francisco 49ers
2008	D'Qwell Jackson	154	Cleveland Browns
2009	Patrick Willis (2)	152	San Francisco 49ers
2010	Jerod Mayo	174	New England Patriots
2011	London Fletcher	166	Washington Redskins
2012	Luke Kuechly	164	Carolina Panthers
2013	Vontaze Burfict	171	Cincinnati Bengals
2014	Luke Kuechly (2)	164	Carolina Panthers
2015	NaVorro Bowman	154	San Francisco 49ers
2016	Bobby Wagner	167	Seattle Seahawks
2017	Blake Martinez	144	Green Bay Packers
	Joe Schobert		Cleveland Browns
2018	Shaquille Leonard	163	Indianapolis Colts
2019	Bobby Wagner (2)	159	Seattle Seahawks
2020	Zach Cunningham	164	Houston Texans
2021	Foyesade Oluokun	192	Atlanta Falcons
2022	Foyesade Oluokun (2)	184	Jacksonville Jaguars
2023	Bobby Wagner (3)	183	Seattle Seahawks

Source:^[2]

See also

• List of NFL career tackles leaders

Notes and References

1. Web site: NFL Tackles Year-by-Year Leaders. pro-football-reference.com. 2023-01-20. 2023-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20230120162354/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/tackles_solo_year_by_year.htm. live.
2. Web site: NFL Tackles Combined Year-by-Year Leaders. pro-football-reference.com. 2023-01-20. 2023-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20230120162354/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/tackles_combined_year_by_year.htm. live.