James Houston Wants to Double Sack Total in 2023

James Houston has lofty goals set for the Lions 2023 season.

Detroit Lions edge rusher James Houston burst onto the scene in the second half of the 2022 season. 

In front of a nationally televised audience, after being called up from the practice squad, Detroit's 2022 sixth-round pick recorded two sacks. 

After a memorable debut against the Bills, the talented defensive lineman went on to record eight sacks in his debut campaign. 

Joining Woodward Sports this week, the 24-year-old expressed his goals are set even higher this season. 

"Being as you know, my role is majority pass rush and getting sacks. I just want to expand on that," Houston told hosts Braylon Edwards and Tom Mazawey. "Anything else they give me, I’ll be super happy, super blessed and fortunate to have. But you know, what I did was extraordinary. I set NFL records, so I honestly just want to continue to build on that. I want to double up my sack total. If I could get that this year, that would be my dream."

The NFL record for sacks in a single season is 22.5, set by both Michael Strahan of the Giants in 2001 and T.J. Watt of the Steelers in 2021. 

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is looking forward this upcoming season to his defense being more aggressive and executing the scheme consistently and more effectively. 

"I give a lot of credit to what our guys did the last 10 games of playing, and obviously every year you’re looking to upgrade your team, you upgrade your talent. And we did that this offseason," Glenn said. "Man, I’m looking for us to be aggressive, be smart, be tough, play football like it should be played. This is going to be fun. It’s going to be fun. It already is fun these OTAs just watching the guys go out there and move around.”