2026 season · Quarterbacks, 36+ attempts through Week 3, 34 qualifiers

Quarterback Intended Air Yards Leaders

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

Through Week 3 (complete)

Quarterback Intended Air Yards — 2026 NFL leaders, updated Sep 29, 2026. C.J. Stroud (HOU) threw for the most intended air yards in the league at 1,132 across 34 qualifying players. Based on verified 2026 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through Week 3 of the 2026 season.

Intended air yards add up the distance each pass travelled past the line of scrimmage, whether it was caught, dropped or thrown away. Because the receiver is left out of it entirely, the total is a record of what a quarterback and his coordinator tried to do rather than what came of it: two passers can finish within a hundred yards of each other and be a thousand apart here, and the gap is the offense's appetite for throwing downfield. Read the per-attempt figure next to the total — the total rewards volume, the rate does not.

Quarterback Intended Air Yards, 2026 NFL season
#	Player	Δ WK	G	IAY	IAY/Att	Att	Cmp	Yds	PACR
1	C.J. StroudHOU	No change	3	1,132	9.43	120	72	794	0.70
2	Bryce YoungCAR	Up 2 places, from 4	3	1,117	9.23	121	72	939	0.84
3	Jordan LoveGB	No change	3	1,077	8.69	124	65	844	0.78
4	Matthew StaffordLAR	Up 5 places, from 9	3	1,072	9.66	111	67	872	0.81
5	Aaron RodgersPIT	Up 1 place, from 6	3	1,009	8.93	113	66	700	0.69
6	Tyler ShoughNO	Down 4 places, from 2	3	1,007	7.63	132	91	917	0.91
7	Josh AllenBUF	Down 2 places, from 5	3	884	10.28	86	56	786	0.89
8	Malik WillisMIA	Up 8 places, from 16	3	871	10.13	86	49	627	0.72
9	Baker MayfieldTB	Down 1 place, from 8	3	852	8.88	96	61	615	0.72
10	Justin HerbertLAC	Up 3 places, from 13	3	834	9.48	88	52	627	0.75
11	Dak PrescottDAL	Down 1 place, from 10	3	825	7.86	105	73	730	0.89
12	Kirk CousinsLV	Up 3 places, from 15	3	782	8.50	92	62	661	0.84
13	Lamar JacksonBAL	Down 6 places, from 7	3	771	10.14	76	53	745	0.97
14	Geno SmithNYJ	Up 5 places, from 19	3	741	7.26	102	77	783	1.06
15	Jared GoffDET	Down 4 places, from 11	3	737	6.76	109	77	802	1.09
16	Trevor LawrenceJAX	Down 4 places, from 12	3	724	8.94	81	54	616	0.85
17	Jacoby BrissettARI	Up 6 places, from 23	3	710	6.07	117	82	652	0.92
18	Drake MayeNE	Up 2 places, from 20	3	704	8.80	80	51	585	0.83
19	Jalen HurtsPHI	Down 5 places, from 14	3	670	7.70	87	56	620	0.93
20	Joe BurrowCIN	Up 1 place, from 21	3	658	6.39	103	73	743	1.13
21	Daniel JonesIND	Up 4 places, from 25	3	644	6.57	98	65	611	0.95
22	Brock PurdySF	Up 7 places, from 29	3	623	7.51	83	60	789	1.27
23	Cam WardTEN	Up 5 places, from 28	3	558	6.34	88	55	504	0.90
24	Patrick MahomesKC	Down 2 places, from 22	3	556	5.67	98	67	812	1.46
25	Bo NixDEN	Up 1 place, from 26	3	545	5.86	93	56	605	1.11
26	Deshaun WatsonCLE	Up 1 place, from 27	3	512	6.24	82	56	587	1.15
27	Jayden DanielsWAS	Down 10 places, from 17	3	472	9.25	51	29	260	0.55
28	Caleb WilliamsCHI	Down 10 places, from 18	3	437	7.95	55	36	407	0.93
29	Marcus MariotaWAS	First appearance on this board	3	435	9.26	47	30	294	0.68
30	Jameis WinstonNYG	Up 1 place, from 31	3	430	8.78	49	25	229	0.53
31	Drew LockSEA	Down 7 places, from 24	3	366	7.62	48	35	422	1.15
32	Sam DarnoldSEA	First appearance on this board	3	312	6.64	47	32	392	1.26
33	Carson WentzMIN	Down 3 places, from 30	3	298	7.64	39	23	276	0.93
34	Cooper RushATL	Down 1 place, from 33	3	183	4.69	39	22	229	1.25

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