Quarterback Intended Air Yards Leaders
Quarterback Intended Air Yards — 2016 NFL leaders, updated Nov 12, 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.
| # | Player | IAY | IAY/Att | Att | Cmp | Yds | PACR | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jameis Winston | 5,776 | 10.19 | 567 | 345 | 4,090 | 0.71 | |
| 2 | Carson Palmer | 5,635 | 9.44 | 597 | 364 | 4,233 | 0.75 | |
| 3 | Aaron Rodgers | 5,287 | 8.67 | 610 | 401 | 4,428 | 0.84 | Read |
| 4 | Kirk Cousins | 5,268 | 8.69 | 606 | 406 | 4,917 | 0.93 | Read |
| 5 | Cam Newton | 5,253 | 10.30 | 510 | 270 | 3,509 | 0.67 | |
| 6 | Blake Bortles | 5,140 | 8.22 | 625 | 368 | 3,905 | 0.76 | |
| 7 | Joe Flacco | 4,967 | 7.39 | 672 | 436 | 4,317 | 0.87 | |
| 8 | Philip Rivers | 4,856 | 8.40 | 578 | 349 | 4,386 | 0.90 | |
| 9 | Drew Brees | 4,795 | 7.12 | 673 | 471 | 5,208 | 1.09 | |
| 10 | Russell Wilson | 4,714 | 8.63 | 546 | 353 | 4,219 | 0.90 | |
| 11 | Eli Manning | 4,702 | 7.86 | 598 | 377 | 4,027 | 0.86 | |
| 12 | Matt Ryan | 4,619 | 8.65 | 534 | 373 | 4,944 | 1.07 | |
| 13 | Carson Wentz | 4,518 | 7.44 | 607 | 379 | 3,782 | 0.84 | |
| 14 | Andrew Luck | 4,471 | 8.20 | 545 | 346 | 4,240 | 0.95 | |
| 15 | Matthew Stafford | 4,421 | 7.44 | 594 | 388 | 4,327 | 0.98 | Read |
| 16 | Andy Dalton | 4,416 | 7.84 | 563 | 364 | 4,206 | 0.95 | |
| 17 | Ben Roethlisberger | 4,412 | 8.67 | 509 | 328 | 3,819 | 0.87 | |
| 18 | Brock Osweiler | 4,381 | 8.59 | 510 | 301 | 2,957 | 0.68 | |
| 19 | Marcus Mariota | 4,344 | 9.63 | 451 | 276 | 3,426 | 0.79 | |
| 20 | Derek Carr | 4,343 | 7.76 | 560 | 357 | 3,937 | 0.91 | |
| 21 | Tyrod Taylor | 4,095 | 9.39 | 436 | 269 | 3,023 | 0.74 | |
| 22 | Trevor Siemian | 4,086 | 8.41 | 486 | 289 | 3,401 | 0.83 | |
| 23 | Dak Prescott | 3,743 | 8.15 | 459 | 311 | 3,667 | 0.98 | Read |
| 24 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 3,636 | 9.02 | 403 | 228 | 2,710 | 0.74 | |
| 25 | Sam Bradford | 3,508 | 6.36 | 552 | 395 | 3,877 | 1.10 | |
| 26 | Tom Brady | 3,353 | 7.76 | 432 | 291 | 3,554 | 1.06 | |
| 27 | Alex Smith | 3,296 | 6.74 | 489 | 328 | 3,502 | 1.06 | |
| 28 | Ryan Tannehill | 3,056 | 7.86 | 389 | 261 | 2,995 | 0.98 | |
| 29 | Colin Kaepernick | 2,662 | 8.04 | 331 | 196 | 2,241 | 0.84 | |
| 30 | Case Keenum | 2,468 | 7.66 | 322 | 196 | 2,201 | 0.89 | |
| 31 | Matt Barkley | 2,274 | 10.53 | 216 | 129 | 1,611 | 0.71 | |
| 32 | Brian Hoyer | 1,566 | 7.83 | 200 | 134 | 1,445 | 0.92 | |
| 33 | Jared Goff | 1,409 | 6.87 | 205 | 112 | 1,089 | 0.77 | Read |
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- Rushing Yards Over Expected
- Target Share
- Running Back Receiving Efficiency
- Completion Percentage Over Expected
- Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt
- Defensive Blitz Rate
- Pass Rate Over Expected
- Team Expected Points Added
- Quarterback EPA per Dropback
- QB Composite Rating
- Air Yards Share
- Stacked Box Rate
- Weighted Opportunity Rating
- Tight End Receiving Efficiency
- Tight End Average Depth of Target
- Play-Action Rate
- Pre-Snap Motion Rate
- Drop Rate
- Contested Catch Rate
- Interception-Worthy Throw Rate
- Quarterback-Fault Sack Rate
- Team Air Yards and Passing Volume
- Receiver Separation and Cushion
- Wide Receiver Receiving Efficiency
- Team Success Rate and Explosive Play Rate
- Goal-Line Usage
- Quarterback Deep Ball
- Team Pace
- Screen Pass Rate
- No-Huddle Rate
- RPO Rate
- Light Box Rate
- Quarterbacks vs the Blitz
- Throwaway Rate
- Catchable Throw Rate
- Out-of-Pocket Rate
- Time to Throw
- Aggressiveness
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