2021 season · Quarterbacks, 36+ deep attempts through Week 3, 33 qualifiers

Quarterback Deep Ball Leaders

Name: Quarterback Deep Ball — 2021 NFL Leaders
Creator: Muffed
License: https://muffed.ai/methodology

Quarterback Deep Ball — 2021 NFL leaders, updated Sep 29, 2026. Tua Tagovailoa (MIA) led the league in deep-ball expected points added per attempt at 1.09, ahead of 32 other qualifying players. Based on verified 2021 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2021 season.

Who led the NFL in deep ball EPA in 2021?Who led the NFL in deep attempt rate in 2021?Who led the NFL in deep completion percentage in 2021?

A deep ball is defined by where it was aimed, not by where it ended up: 20 or more air yards past the line of scrimmage, caught, dropped or overthrown. That is why the split is worth its own page. A completion rate near 50 percent down here is excellent where the same number on a full passing line would be alarming, and the expected-points column is the one that settles arguments, because a deep incompletion costs an offense almost nothing while a deep completion is often the whole drive. Read the rate column last: how often a quarterback goes deep is mostly his coordinator's decision, and it belongs next to how well it went rather than inside it.

Quarterback Deep Ball, 2021 NFL season
#	Player	Deep Att	Deep Cmp%	EPA/Att	Deep Yds	Deep Rate
1	Tua TagovailoaMIA	29	48.3%	1.09	526	7.4%
2	Joe BurrowCIN	62	43.5%	0.87	1,061	11.9%
3	Kyler MurrayARI	74	47.3%	0.82	1,152	15.3%
4	Matt RyanATL	46	47.8%	0.79	762	8.2%
5	Patrick MahomesKC	76	38.2%	0.77	1,008	11.5%
6	Matthew StaffordLAR	73	42.5%	0.74	1,265	12.1%
7	Justin HerbertLAC	70	40.0%	0.71	993	10.3%
8	Carson WentzIND	56	42.9%	0.70	828	10.8%
9	Josh AllenBUF	74	44.6%	0.67	1,071	11.4%
10	Aaron RodgersGB	72	40.3%	0.65	987	13.5%
11	Russell WilsonSEA	74	37.8%	0.62	1,065	18.4%
12	Derek CarrLV	81	40.7%	0.53	1,128	12.9%
13	Kirk CousinsMIN	78	41.0%	0.52	1,034	13.8%
14	Dak PrescottDAL	72	43.1%	0.52	940	12.0%
15	Tom BradyTB	91	40.7%	0.49	1,121	12.6%
16	Daniel JonesNYG	27	29.6%	0.42	337	7.5%
17	Jacoby BrissettMIA	22	36.4%	0.41	235	9.7%
18	Davis MillsHOU	41	41.5%	0.40	559	10.4%
19	Baker MayfieldCLE	60	38.3%	0.39	729	14.3%
20	Jalen HurtsPHI	63	34.9%	0.32	736	14.5%
21	Justin FieldsCHI	42	42.9%	0.31	514	15.6%
22	Jared GoffDET	45	31.1%	0.30	383	9.0%
23	Ryan TannehillTEN	45	31.1%	0.21	482	8.5%
24	Teddy BridgewaterDEN	53	30.2%	0.20	489	12.4%
25	Mac JonesNE	63	33.3%	0.20	665	12.0%
26	Lamar JacksonBAL	54	31.5%	0.16	578	14.0%
27	Taylor HeinickeWAS	64	32.8%	0.15	654	12.9%
28	Zach WilsonNYJ	43	39.5%	0.14	506	11.1%
29	Trevor LawrenceJAX	67	29.9%	0.09	577	11.0%
30	Ben RoethlisbergerPIT	63	30.2%	0.09	655	10.3%
31	Jimmy GaroppoloSF	37	29.7%	-0.04	392	8.4%
32	Sam DarnoldCAR	43	25.6%	-0.14	368	10.6%
33	Andy DaltonCHI	17	17.6%	-0.36	124	7.1%

Sacks are excluded, because a sack has no air yards and is not an attempt. The deep rate divides by the passer's own attempts rather than by his dropbacks for the same reason.

New to this stat? What deep-ball expected points added per attempt means.

Other seasons

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 the football you care about. Players, teams, stat boards — press Follow on any of them, and that is what your weekly email is made of. Nothing you didn't ask for.

Free. One email a week, in season.

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 →