Greg Rousseau is first player since 1998 with 2+ sacks in first three games of a season

Published September 30, 2026 07:43 AM While Bills quarterback Josh Allen is the leading candidate to be league MVP, his teammate linebacker Greg Rousseau is making an early case for Defensive Player of the Year.Rousseau has two sacks in each of the Bills’ three games, making him just the third player since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 to have multiple sacks in the first three games of a season. The others were Mark Gastineau with the 1984 Jets and Kevin Greene with the 1998 Panthers.Greene had multiple sacks in each of the 1998 Panthers’ first four games, so Rousseau can tie Greene’s record with two sacks on Sunday against the Patriots, and break the record with two sacks in each of the next two games.Rousseau’s six sacks are the most of any player in the NFL this season, and he also leads the league with eight tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. He’s currently sixth in Defensive Player of the Year odds at +1500, behind Houston’s Will Anderson at +300, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson at +750, Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt at +900, Las Vegas’s Maxx Crosby at +1200 and Minnesota’s Dallas Turner at +1300.