2026 season · Pass catchers

Air Yards Share Leaders

Name: Air Yards Share — 2026 NFL Leaders
Creator: Muffed
License: https://muffed.ai/methodology

Through Week 6 · Sunday, Sunday night and Monday night pending

Air Yards Share — 2026 NFL leaders, updated Oct 17, 2026. Carnell Tate (TEN) led the league in air yards share at 48.9%, ahead of 49 other qualifying players. Based on verified 2026 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through Week 6 of the 2026 season, with Sunday, Sunday night and Monday night still to come.

Who led the NFL in air yards share in 2026?Who led the NFL in intended air yards in 2026?Who led the NFL in yards after catch over expectation in 2026?

Air yards share is the slice of a team's total intended passing yardage thrown at one receiver — it counts the distance the ball travelled in the air whether or not he caught it. Where target share says how often a receiver is thrown to, air yards share says how far, which is why the two together separate a checkdown magnet from a field-stretcher on the same target count.

Air Yards Share, 2026 NFL season
#	Player	Δ WK	G	AY Share	Tgt Share	Tgt	Yds	RACR	YAC OE	Read
1	Carnell TateWR · TEN	Up 1 place, from 2	5	48.9%	25.9%	37	274	0.56	-24.0	Read
2	Jaxon Smith-NjigbaWR · SEA	Down 1 place, from 1	6	48.4%	35.1%	66	717	1.03	-3.1	Read
3	Chris OlaveWR · NO	No change	5	46.1%	27.7%	54	537	0.74	-59.3	Read
4	Denzel BostonWR · CLE	No change	5	45.5%	19.7%	29	330	0.69	54.8	Read
5	Drake LondonWR · ATL	No change	5	43.8%	28.3%	36	488	1.49	73.8	Read
6	Mike EvansWR · SF	No change	5	43.4%	24.8%	34	326	0.69	-39.1	Read
7	Garrett WilsonWR · NYJ	No change	5	43.2%	30.2%	42	374	0.92	-36.2	Read
8	Tee HigginsWR · CIN	No change; did not play this week	5	42.5%	23.1%	43	423	0.74	-4.6	Read
9	Parker WashingtonWR · JAX	No change	5	41.4%	25.5%	35	352	0.79	10.3	Read
10	Matthew GoldenWR · GB	No change	5	38.1%	24.3%	44	397	0.65	16.5	Read
11	CeeDee LambWR · DAL	No change	5	38.0%	27.4%	51	507	0.96	-16.0	Read
12	Michael WilsonWR · ARI	No change	5	37.0%	26.3%	51	288	0.56	-57.4	Read
13	Davante AdamsWR · LAR	No change	5	36.9%	21.4%	45	441	0.63	12.9	Read
14	Jaylen WaddleWR · DEN	Back on this board	6	36.7%	22.2%	38	228	0.65	-43.6	Read
15	Malik NabersWR · NYG	Down 1 place, from 14	5	35.3%	28.2%	46	329	0.61	-75.4	Read
16	Rome OdunzeWR · CHI	No change	5	34.6%	18.0%	29	273	0.67	-39.4	Read
17	George PickensWR · DAL	No change	5	33.7%	22.0%	41	355	0.76	-23.5	Read
18	Tetairoa McMillanWR · CAR	No change	4	33.1%	26.5%	39	385	0.86	-2.0	Read
19	Dontayvion WicksWR · PHI	No change	5	32.3%	19.6%	28	260	0.72	-13.1	Read
20	Jameson WilliamsWR · DET	No change; did not play this week	5	31.9%	15.4%	29	276	0.58	-39.5	Read
21	Malik WashingtonWR · MIA	No change; did not play this week	5	31.9%	28.1%	36	262	0.62	-12.5	Read
22	Christian WatsonWR · GB	No change	5	31.4%	22.1%	40	474	0.94	48.5	Read
23	Amon-Ra St. BrownWR · DET	No change; did not play this week	5	31.0%	30.3%	57	372	0.80	-38.2	Read
24	Josh DownsWR · IND	No change	5	30.3%	20.5%	34	249	0.66	-9.6	Read
25	Justin JeffersonWR · MIN	No change; did not play this week	5	29.3%	18.6%	24	258	0.98	-33.1	Read
26	DeVonta SmithWR · PHI	No change	5	29.0%	18.9%	27	235	0.73	-42.5	Read
27	Tre TuckerWR · LV	No change	5	28.8%	16.3%	28	274	0.67	-50.7	Read
28	Luther Burden IIIWR · CHI	No change	5	26.9%	21.7%	35	266	0.84	-12.7	Read
29	Ja'Marr ChaseWR · CIN	No change; did not play this week	5	25.9%	20.4%	38	289	0.83	-48.0	Read
30	Xavier HutchinsonWR · HOU	No change	5	24.3%	18.1%	31	231	0.59	26.6
31	Zay FlowersWR · BAL	No change	5	23.8%	23.3%	31	405	1.52	54.8	Read
32	Rashod BatemanWR · BAL	No change	5	23.5%	15.8%	21	233	0.89	-7.8	Read
33	Trey McBrideTE · ARI	No change	5	23.3%	28.9%	56	308	0.94	-82.0	Read
34	Isaiah LikelyTE · NYG	No change	5	22.8%	29.4%	48	284	0.81	-62.6	Read
35	Puka NacuaWR · LAR	No change	5	22.8%	21.4%	45	337	0.78	-0.3	Read
36	Brock BowersTE · LV	No change	5	22.6%	19.8%	34	312	0.97	-8.2	Read
37	Devaughn VeleWR · NO	No change	5	22.4%	19.0%	37	252	0.71	-33.9	Read
38	Dalton KincaidTE · BUF	No change	5	20.1%	16.2%	21	277	1.08	28.9	Read
39	George KittleTE · SF	No change	5	19.6%	20.4%	28	268	1.26	51.0	Read
40	Nico CollinsWR · HOU	No change	5	19.5%	14.6%	25	249	0.79	-20.4	Read
41	Brenton StrangeTE · JAX	No change	5	18.4%	19.0%	26	235	1.19	8.0	Read
42	Travis KelceTE · KC	No change	4	15.6%	18.6%	22	246	1.86	83.8	Read
43	Sam LaPortaTE · DET	No change; did not play this week	5	15.4%	19.7%	37	316	1.36	14.3	Read
44	Kalif RaymondWR · CHI	No change	5	15.1%	16.8%	27	226	1.28	-25.9
45	Khalil ShakirWR · BUF	No change	5	13.3%	20.0%	26	256	1.51	43.5	Read
46	Dalton SchultzTE · HOU	No change	5	12.6%	18.1%	31	244	1.20	-7.2	Read
47	Jaylin NoelWR · HOU	No change	5	10.6%	9.9%	17	227	—	—	Read
48	Juwan JohnsonTE · NO	No change	5	10.4%	16.4%	32	248	1.50	5.4	Read
49	Jahmyr GibbsRB · DET	No change; did not play this week	5	3.3%	18.1%	34	243	4.96	25.8	Read
50	Jaylen WarrenRB · PIT	No change	5	-2.6%	14.9%	26	230	-6.05	110.6	Read

RACR divides by air yards, so it climbs without limit as the throws get shorter: a back targeted a yard past the line reads in double figures and is not outperforming a receiver at 1.4. Read it against the depth of target rather than on its own. Yards after catch over expected is nflverse's model and is a different measurement from the tracking figure on the separation board, which is why the two carry different names.

New to this stat? What air yards share means.

Choosing between two of these players?

Both men's 2025 production side by side, and which of them rests on inputs that historically repeat.

All comparisons →

More leaderboards

Follow Air Yards Share. When this board moves, you'll know — what changed, week over week.

One email a week, in season. Free, unsubscribe anytime.

Use Muffed in your AI

Ask Claude or ChatGPT football questions and get these verified figures back, with sources. Add https://muffed.ai/api/mcp — free, no account, no API key.

Add to Claude · Set up in ChatGPT · How it works →