NFL All-Time Tackle Records: Single-Season, Single-Game, and Career Leaders, Including Ray Lewis and Luke Kuechly

NFL records are broken, it feels, year after year, especially with the NFL adding games as time goes on. However, the NFL tackle records have proven to be tough to beat.

What are the current NFL tackle records for individual games, in a single season, and across a career?

NFL All-Time Tackle Leaders

For combined tackles — a combination of solo and assisted tackles — official records have been kept since 1987, with anything before that being listed as unofficial.

However, the leaders here are some of the best and longest-tenured linebackers in NFL history. That includes Ray Lewis, who had 2,059 combined tackles from 1996-2012 and cemented himself as one of the NFL’s scariest linebackers ever.

Here are the top 20 in official career tackles.

1. Ray Lewis, 2,059 career tackles (1996-2012)
2. London Fletcher, 2,039 career tackles (1998-2013)
3. Junior Seau, 1,847 career tackles (1990-2009)
4. Jessie Tuggle, 1,805 career tackles (1987-2000)
5. Zach Thomas, 1,734 career tackles (1996-2008)
6. Derrick Brooks, 1,713 career tackles (1995-2008)
7. Bobby Wagner, 1,706 career tackles (2012-2023)
8. Clay Matthews, 1,595 career tackles (1978-1996)
9. Hardy Nickerson, 1,586 career tackles (1987-2002)
10. Donnie Edwards, 1,501 career tackles (1996-2008)
11. Kyle Clifton, 1,484 career tackles (1984-1996)
12. Lavonte David, 1,480 career tackles (2012-2023)
13. Keith Brooking, 1,440 career tackles (1998-2012)
14. James Farrior, 1,440 career tackles (1997-2011)
15. Lawyer Milloy, 1,439 career tackles (1996-2010)
16. Takeo Spikes, 1,431 career tackles (1998-2012)
17. Karlos Dansby, 1,422 career tackles (2004-2017)
18. Eugene Robinson, 1,413 career tackles (1985-2000)
19. Chris Spielman, 1,363 career tackles (1988-1997)
20. Brian Urlacher, 1,361 career tackles (2000-2012)

The career tackle numbers go to show that the game has severely changed from the 90s and early 2000s to now, as only two players who started their career post-2010 cracked the list. Additionally, 12 of the 20 started and played their careers between 1990 and 2010.

Another thing worth noting: It takes a long time to compile numbers to get on this list. Chris Spielman was the only player in the top 20 who played fewer than 10 seasons, while most played more than 10. Junior Seau even played a whopping 19 seasons from 1990 to 2009.

NFL Single-Season Tackle Leaders

The same as career tackles, single-season tackle numbers have only been official since 1987.

While few current-era players made the all-time tackle leaders, a handful cracked the top 20 in single-season numbers, including Foyesade Oluokun, who had 192 combined tackles in 2021, the most of any player in the 2000s.

Here are the top 20 in terms of single-season numbers.

1. Hardy Nickerson, 214 tackles (1993)
2. Jessie Tuggle, 207 tackles (1991)
3. Jessie Tuggle, 201 tackles (1990)
4. Kyle Clifton, 199 tackles (1990)
5. Chris Spielman, 195 tackles (1994)
6. Jessie Tuggle, 193 tackles (1992)
7. Foyesade Oluokun, 192 tackles (2021)
8. Dante Jones, 189 tackles (1993)
9. Jessie Tuggle, 185 tackles (1993)
10. Jordyn Brooks, 184 tackles (2021)
11. Byron Evans, 184 tackles (1989)
12. Ray Lewis, 184 tackles (1997)
13. Foyesade Oluokun, 184 tackles (2022)
14. Jessie Tuggle, 183 tackles (1989)
15. Bobby Wagner, 183 tackles (2023)
16. Mike Johnson, 181 tackles (1993)
17. Nick Bolton, 180 tackles (2022)
18. Zaire Franklin, 179 tackles (2023)
19. Alex Singleton, 177 tackles (2023)
20. Mike Johnson, 176 tackles (1992)

Once again, this stat was dominated by players in the 1990s, an era when running the ball was supreme. Jessie Tuggle rose above the rest, recording five seasons in the top 15, four inside the top 10, and two inside the top three. He eclipsed the 200-tackle mark in both 1990 and 1991.

It’s Hardy Nickerson, though, who holds the top spot by seven tackles. Playing from 1987-2002, Nickerson’s historic 214-tackle season came in 1993 when he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was named first-team All-Pro and was sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting as a result.

NFL Single-Game Tackle Leaders

With solo tackles not counted until 1994, single-game combined tackle stats still date back to  1987. However, while most tackle stats were dominated in the 90s and early 2000, single-game tackle numbers have been dominated in the 2010s as well, with Luke Kuechly’s 24 tackles and Kiko Alonso’s 22 both coming in 2023. Here are the top-20 in terms of single-game numbers

1. Luke Kuechly, 24 tackles (2013)
2. David Harris, 24 tackles (2007)
3. Kiko Alonso, 22 tackles (2013)
4. Roquan Smith, 21 tackles (2023)
5. Alex Singleton, 21 tackles (2022)
6. Kwon Alexander, 21 tackles (2016)
7. Pat Angerer, 21 tackles (2011)
8. Zach Thomas, 21 tackles (2006)
9. Rodney Harrison, 21 tackles (2004)
10. London Fletcher, 21 tackles (2004)
11. Alex Singleton, 20 tackles (2022)
12. Jordyn Brooks, 20 tackles (2022)
13. Kamu Grugier-Hill, 20 tackles (2021)
14. Bobby Wagner, 20 tackles (2021)
15. London Fletcher, 20 tackles (2012)
16. Jerod Mayo, 20 tackles (2008)
17. Patrick Willis, 20 tackles (2007)
18. Eric Brown, 20 tackles (1999)
19. Donnie Edwards, 20 tackles (2004)
20. Derrick Brooks, 20 tackles (2001)

In terms of single-game stats, there are five currently active players who found themselves inside the top 20, including Roquan Smith, Alex Singleton, and Kwon Alexander, all of whom have had a 21-tackle game. Singleton, however, also had a 20-tackle game.

For the ’90s linebackers, though, only Eric Brown picked up 20 or more tackles in a game, which came in 1999.