I have no idea how any of this works.
In MFN-7 I am closing in on a Historic Defense... just a few Secondary pieces away from it basically being the 85 Bears or that Super Bowl Ravens. In MFN-73 my D sucks, but my DL is still doing well (built for Offense there, and it's emerging faster than I intended. Expected another #1 Overall Pick... instead I'm 6-6 and fighting for the Play Offs in only the 2nd Season of the League, and I Drafted extreme Youth).
In either case, it's the Impossible Beast that I look for.
In MFN-73 the only reason my Defense ever has a chance is the DL. I run a majority of Dime/Nickel (and I focus Pass on Offense about 90% of the time... so it's an All Out Pass Attack on both sides of the ball). But I have 4 Players on Defense that can keep me in most games (still get blown out by the elite). When I show you them, you'll see the connection. :D
DT Don Wentz. This is THE MAN. Bull rushes triple teams and still gets sacks and safeties.
79/83 (76/80 AI) 6'4" 283 Age: 26
91 SPD 100 ACC 80 STR 80 TKL 76/90 PASS 77/89 RUN
RDE Carlos Garcia. This is my main defender, the Edge Rusher of my Future.
86/95 (81/93 AI) 6'5" 276 AGE: 23
100 SPD 100 ACC 95 STR 71/97 TKL 71/93 PASS 87/93 RUN
LDE David Green. This is a Mid Round Pick of the 2nd Draft, but he has numbers that fit.
59/66 (59/68 AI) 6'3" 276 AGE: 22
100 SPD 45 ACC 90 STR 52/60 TKL 18/36 PASS 52/73 RUN
MLB Kevin Hester. This is my guy, the glue.
77/80 (75/78 AI) 5'11" 243 AGE: 25
93 SPD 90 ACC 82 STR 75/80 TKL 87/92 PASS 66/71 RUN 77/79 PUN 52/56 Z 68/78 M2M
I had thoughts of Hester being the LDE before Drafting Green. I value ACC on the DL as much as I do STR and SPD, and he has an actual Pass Rush and a quality Tackle. Also his Coverage isn't great, but his Punish is okay... so he's my lone LB in most of my sets. Hester would be a 'Small Guy' like you discuss... so you feel he'd be as good or maybe better than Garcia at DE, and better than Green?
The funny thing was for most of the season these guys stayed even in Sacks... just a game or two ago each of the DL had 5 (and a non-descript back up DT with 5 also). Now it's 11 Garcia, 11 Green, 9 Wentz.
None of these guys are a Phillip Bolden, however. My monster in MFN-7. Phillip Bolden was the #3 Over All in the 2023 MFN-7 Draft. I picked #5, and was so impressed with the #3 and #4 Picks that I traded for BOTH of them... taking the Top 3 LBs in the 2023 Draft to build around. Phillip was the best of the bunch, and moved to LDE. All 3 were MLB, I moved the other 2 (Samuel Shepard, my pick at #5, and Joshua Velasquez the #4) to the OLB spots.
LDE Phillip Bolden
100 SPD 100 ACC 100 STR 100 INT 100 DISC
53/75 TKL 84/89 PASS 82/90 RUN
82/95 PUN 66/82 ZC 63/85 M2M
I still run some Zone Blitz, so Bolden gets to use those Pass Defense Abilities from time to time... but he's here for the Sacks. And he gets them. As a Rookie he recorded 33 Sacks in 16 Games, and another 4 in the 2 Play Off Games he was in. We just finished his 2nd Season, and he wracked up 29 Sacks in 13 Games (I sat him the last 3 due to Injury so he'd be ready for the Play Offs), and another 4 in our Play Offs so far (Won WC Game).
So in 29 Regular Season Games he has 62 Sacks, and another 8 Sacks in 3 Play Off Games. Not a bad start to a career. As far as I know, this kid is Historic. Rare territory. But he's not the only Defender on my MFN-7 Squad... which has Gabriel Sexton and Donald Klinger as 43 DTs, Evans at RDE. Velasquez at SLB, Humphries at MLB, Shepard at WLB, Bradley and Jones at CB, Fletcher at SS and Powell at FS.
Of my entire Starting Defense only Powell (FS) and Evans (RDE) aren't impossible freaks, and Humphreys whose only weakness is Mid to High 70 Range SPD/ACC/STR at MLB. Sexton and Klinger are 'perfect' DTs who only lack SPD (and boy do they) but still show up in a big way.
To compare to your Defense, my guys got these Sacks in 2027. (DL and LB only)
LDE Bolden 29
SLB Velasquez 21
MLB Humphreys 10
WLB Shepard 9
RDE Evans 8
DT Sexton 6
LDE Stewart 5
DT Klinger 3
MLB Kidd 3
RDE Michaud 1
That's 95 Sacks in my 16 Games in 2027... with my Lead guy out for 3 Games. That's 5.94 Sacks a Game for the Season from my Front Seven. I finished 2nd, with 6.3 Sacks per Game, behind Kansas City and their 6.4.
Of the 4 Teams in MFN-7 that have 6.0+ Sacks per Game, all 4 are Play Off Teams, despite my Offense having no business whatsoever of Winning Football Games (Track Star QB who can't throw, 2 Converted TEs at RB, no real WR Threat...)
So while the only way I know to produce Sacks is to get the best player possible and send him at the QB, I do know the easiest way to Win is to find guys that get to the QB.