It is a lonely feeling, being a quarterback and watching your pass disappear into the wrong hands. We’ve all seen it. The collective groan from the home crowd, the sudden sprint the other way, and that sinking realization that a drive is dead. But when you look at the history of the most interceptions in NFL history, you aren't just looking at mistakes. You are looking at a different era of football—a time when the rules actually allowed defensive backs to, well, play defense.
Honestly, the numbers are staggering.
Today’s NFL is built for scoring. It’s built for 4,000-yard seasons and high completion percentages. But if you dig into the archives, you’ll find names like Paul Krause and "Night Train" Lane, men who treated the football like it belonged to them every time it left a quarterback's fingertips.
The Mount Everest of Defense: Paul Krause and the 81
If you want to talk about the career record for the most interceptions in NFL history, there is only one name that matters: Paul Krause. He finished his career with 81 interceptions. Think about that for a second. To even get close, a player would need to average five picks a season for sixteen years straight. In today’s game? That’s basically a fantasy.
Krause wasn’t just a ballhawk; he was a centerfielder in a helmet.
He started with 12 interceptions as a rookie in 1964 with Washington. Twelve! Most modern cornerbacks are thrilled to get four in a year. Krause had this uncanny ability to read the quarterback’s eyes before the ball was even snapped. He played 16 seasons, mostly with the Minnesota Vikings, and he was the backbone of that legendary "Purple People Eaters" era.
What’s crazy is that Krause actually broke the record held by Emlen Tunnell, who had 79. For decades, Tunnell was the gold standard. Tunnell was a pioneer, the first Black player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he did it with a style that was pure grit. He played for the Giants and the Packers, and even after all these years, he still sits at number two.
The Modern Gap
Who is even close now? Short answer: nobody.
As of early 2026, Harrison Smith is the active leader, and he’s sitting way back in the late 30s. It’s not that today’s safeties are worse. It’s that the game has changed. Quarterbacks are more careful. Offensive systems are designed to minimize risk with short, high-percentage throws. If a guy gets 10 interceptions in a season now, like Xavien Howard did a few years back, we treat it like a miracle. Back in the day, that was just a Tuesday for some of these guys.
Night Train Lane and the 14-Pick Season
If Krause owns the career record, Dick "Night Train" Lane owns the single-season crown.
In 1952, Lane was a rookie for the Los Angeles Rams. He was an undrafted free agent who walked into camp and decided to rewrite the record books. He intercepted 14 passes that year. Here’s the kicker: he did it in a 12-game season.
Basically, he was averaging more than one interception per game.
He didn't have fancy film rooms or digital tablets to study. He just had instincts and a nickname that sounded like a freight train. He was known for "clothesline" tackles that would probably get a player banned for life today, but his ability to snatch the ball out of the air was pure art.
Nobody has touched 14 since.
Lester Hayes got close in 1980 with 13, but he was also famously covered in "Stickum" (that goopy stuff that made the ball practically glue itself to your hands). After the NFL banned Stickum, the numbers started to dip. Trevon Diggs gave us a scare recently with 11 in 2021, but even he couldn't maintain that pace. The 14-interception mark is the "unbreakable" record of the defensive side of the ball.
The Quarterback’s Hall of Shame
We can't talk about the most interceptions in NFL without mentioning the guys who threw them. It’s only fair, right?
George Blanda holds the record for the most interceptions thrown in a single season with 42. Yes, forty-two. That was back in 1962 with the Houston Oilers. If a quarterback threw 42 interceptions today, he wouldn’t make it to Week 10. He’d be on a beach somewhere wondering where his career went.
But Blanda was a different breed. He was a kicker and a quarterback. He just kept slinging it.
- George Blanda: 42 INTs (1962)
- Vinny Testaverde: 35 INTs (1988)
- Frank Tripucka: 34 INTs (1960)
Even Brett Favre, one of the greatest to ever play, is the career leader in interceptions thrown with 336. It’s the paradox of the gunslinger. You have to be willing to fail to succeed. You don’t get to 500 touchdowns without being willing to throw a few hundred into the hands of the other team.
The Disaster Game: Jim Hardy’s Eight
Then there’s the single-game record. Jim Hardy, playing for the Chicago Cardinals in 1950, threw eight interceptions in one game against the Eagles. Eight. You’d think they would have benched him after five or six, but they just let him keep going.
The funniest part? The very next week, Hardy threw six touchdowns.
Football is weird like that.
Why We Won't See These Records Broken
You might be wondering why these stats seem so frozen in time. It’s the "modernization" of the sport.
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- Rule Changes: The "Mel Blount Rule" and subsequent pass interference tweaks make it harder for defensive backs to be aggressive. You can't touch a receiver after five yards.
- QB Efficiency: Coaches like Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan prioritize "taking care of the rock." Interceptions are seen as the ultimate sin.
- Specialization: Defensive backs are often switched out based on packages. In Krause's day, you stayed on the field. You had more chances because you were always there.
Honestly, the 81 career mark is safe. It’s the Joe DiMaggio hitting streak of football.
What You Should Watch For
While we might not see 81 career picks again, the battle for the active lead is still fun. Keep an eye on the young ballhawks like DaRon Bland and Derek Stingley Jr. These guys are playing in a pass-heavy era, so while their career totals might not hit the 70s, their "per-target" stats are often more impressive than the legends.
If you’re a fan of defensive history, take a look at some old highlights of Ed Reed. He’s the closest thing to Krause we’ve seen in the last 20 years. Reed finished with 64, and the way he baited quarterbacks into throwing deep was a masterclass in psychology.
The next time you see a safety jump a route and take it to the house, remember you’re seeing a dying art. The most interceptions in NFL list is a tribute to a time when the secondary was the most feared part of the field.
Next Steps for the Stat-Heads:
If you want to dive deeper into how these records were built, go check out the Pro Football Reference "Defensive Interceptions" leaderboard. Compare the "Interception Percentage" of the 1970s leaders versus today’s top corners. You'll see that while the volume is lower now, the efficiency of guys like Sauce Gardner or Patrick Surtain II is actually incredibly high given how often they are avoided by smart quarterbacks.