How'd Dexter Manley Just Surpass Kerrigan as All-Time Washington Sack Leader?

When Ryan Kerrigan sacked Carson Wentz twice in Week 1 last season, he entered Washington record books as the all-time leading sack leader in team history, surpassing Hall-of-Famer Dexter Manley, who held the record for over 30 years.
However, new data is giving that title right back to Manley.
Sacks began as a recorded stat in the 1982 season, Manley's second in the NFL. However, new data research from Pro Football Reference's John Turney and Nick Webster have allowed all sacks since 1960 to be recorded.
Thanks to decades of research by John Turney and Nick Webster, we have updated our site to add sack data all the way back to 1960, 20 years before it became an officially recorded statistic
— Pro Football Reference (@pfref) July 12, 2021
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In 1981, Manley recorded six sacks, which puts him at 97.0 sacks during his tenure in Washington, just 1.5 sacks ahead of Kerrigan, who joined the division rival Philadelphia Eagles this offseason.
Unless Kerrigan re-signs with Washington at some point in his career, he will likely not hold the record in the books. So yes, Kerrigan lost his all-time sacks record to a player who hasn't played for the organization in over 30 years. Sports can be wild sometimes and this is no exception.
For now, Manley holds the record, and the player that's likely going to be in hot pursuit of that record is Chase Young, who logged 7.5 sacks in his rookie year. That's 1.5 more than Manley and the exact same number as Kerrigan.
Young's still got a ways to go, but he's on the right track. He's just got to get a few more sacks than he anticipated beforehand if he is chasing the new record.
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Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several On SI sites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid and resides in Central Florida. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener.
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