2016 season · Quarterbacks, 36+ attempts through Week 3, 33 qualifiers

Quarterback Intended Air Yards Leaders

Quarterback Intended Air Yards — 2016 NFL leaders, updated Sep 29, 2026. Jameis Winston (TB) threw for the most intended air yards in the league at 5,776 across 33 qualifying players. Based on verified 2016 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2016 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, 2016 NFL season
#PlayerIAYIAY/AttAttCmpYdsPACRListen
1Jameis WinstonTB5,77610.195673454,0900.71
2Carson PalmerARI5,6359.445973644,2330.75
3Aaron RodgersGB5,2878.676104014,4280.84
4Kirk CousinsWAS5,2688.696064064,9170.93
5Cam NewtonCAR5,25310.305102703,5090.67
6Blake BortlesJAX5,1408.226253683,9050.76
7Joe FlaccoBAL4,9677.396724364,3170.87
8Philip RiversLAC4,8568.405783494,3860.90
9Drew BreesNO4,7957.126734715,2081.09
10Russell WilsonSEA4,7148.635463534,2190.90
11Eli ManningNYG4,7027.865983774,0270.86
12Matt RyanATL4,6198.655343734,9441.07
13Carson WentzPHI4,5187.446073793,7820.84
14Andrew LuckIND4,4718.205453464,2400.95
15Matthew StaffordDET4,4217.445943884,3270.98
16Andy DaltonCIN4,4167.845633644,2060.95
17Ben RoethlisbergerPIT4,4128.675093283,8190.87
18Brock OsweilerHOU4,3818.595103012,9570.68
19Marcus MariotaTEN4,3449.634512763,4260.79
20Derek CarrLV4,3437.765603573,9370.91
21Tyrod TaylorBUF4,0959.394362693,0230.74
22Trevor SiemianDEN4,0868.414862893,4010.83
23Dak PrescottDAL3,7438.154593113,6670.98
24Ryan FitzpatrickNYJ3,6369.024032282,7100.74
25Sam BradfordMIN3,5086.365523953,8771.10
26Tom BradyNE3,3537.764322913,5541.06
27Alex SmithKC3,2966.744893283,5021.06
28Ryan TannehillMIA3,0567.863892612,9950.98
29Colin KaepernickSF2,6628.043311962,2410.84
30Case KeenumLAR2,4687.663221962,2010.89
31Matt BarkleyCHI2,27410.532161291,6110.71
32Brian HoyerCHI1,5667.832001341,4450.92
33Jared GoffLAR1,4096.872051121,0890.77

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