Quarterback Intended Air Yards Leaders
Quarterback Intended Air Yards — 2017 NFL leaders, updated Sep 29, 2026. Russell Wilson (SEA) threw for the most intended air yards in the league at 5,411 across 35 qualifying players. Based on verified 2017 play-by-play data (nflverse); Half-PPR scoring. Through the 2017 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 | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russell Wilson | 5,411 | 9.78 | 553 | 339 | 3,983 | 0.74 | |
| 2 | Tom Brady | 5,308 | 9.14 | 581 | 385 | 4,577 | 0.86 | |
| 3 | Ben Roethlisberger | 5,002 | 8.90 | 562 | 361 | 4,259 | 0.85 | |
| 4 | Philip Rivers | 4,745 | 8.25 | 575 | 360 | 4,515 | 0.95 | |
| 5 | Matt Ryan | 4,719 | 8.92 | 529 | 342 | 4,095 | 0.87 | |
| 6 | Jameis Winston | 4,693 | 10.62 | 442 | 282 | 3,504 | 0.75 | |
| 7 | Matthew Stafford | 4,543 | 8.04 | 565 | 371 | 4,446 | 0.98 | |
| 8 | Carson Wentz | 4,359 | 9.91 | 440 | 265 | 3,296 | 0.76 | |
| 9 | DeShone Kizer | 4,272 | 8.97 | 476 | 255 | 2,894 | 0.68 | |
| 10 | Derek Carr | 4,244 | 8.24 | 515 | 323 | 3,496 | 0.82 | |
| 11 | Eli Manning | 4,171 | 7.30 | 571 | 352 | 3,468 | 0.83 | |
| 12 | Kirk Cousins | 4,153 | 7.69 | 540 | 347 | 4,093 | 0.99 | |
| 13 | Cam Newton | 4,150 | 8.43 | 492 | 291 | 3,302 | 0.80 | |
| 14 | Andy Dalton | 4,064 | 8.19 | 496 | 297 | 3,320 | 0.82 | |
| 15 | Blake Bortles | 4,062 | 7.77 | 523 | 315 | 3,687 | 0.91 | |
| 16 | Marcus Mariota | 4,043 | 8.92 | 453 | 281 | 3,232 | 0.80 | |
| 17 | Dak Prescott | 3,942 | 8.04 | 490 | 308 | 3,324 | 0.84 | |
| 18 | Alex Smith | 3,877 | 7.68 | 505 | 341 | 4,042 | 1.04 | |
| 19 | Jared Goff | 3,770 | 7.90 | 477 | 296 | 3,804 | 1.01 | |
| 20 | Joe Flacco | 3,679 | 6.70 | 549 | 352 | 3,141 | 0.85 | |
| 21 | Case Keenum | 3,641 | 7.57 | 481 | 325 | 3,547 | 0.97 | |
| 22 | Tyrod Taylor | 3,599 | 8.57 | 420 | 263 | 2,799 | 0.78 | |
| 23 | Jay Cutler | 3,530 | 8.23 | 429 | 266 | 2,666 | 0.76 | |
| 24 | Jacoby Brissett | 3,513 | 7.49 | 469 | 276 | 3,098 | 0.88 | |
| 25 | Drew Brees | 3,417 | 6.38 | 536 | 386 | 4,334 | 1.27 | |
| 26 | Trevor Siemian | 3,044 | 8.72 | 349 | 206 | 2,285 | 0.75 | |
| 27 | Josh McCown | 3,036 | 7.65 | 397 | 267 | 2,926 | 0.96 | |
| 28 | Mitchell Trubisky | 2,571 | 7.79 | 330 | 196 | 2,193 | 0.85 | |
| 29 | Carson Palmer | 2,499 | 9.36 | 267 | 164 | 1,978 | 0.79 | |
| 30 | Brett Hundley | 2,393 | 7.57 | 316 | 192 | 1,836 | 0.77 | |
| 31 | Deshaun Watson | 2,242 | 10.99 | 204 | 126 | 1,699 | 0.76 | |
| 32 | Tom Savage | 1,966 | 8.82 | 223 | 125 | 1,412 | 0.72 | |
| 33 | Brian Hoyer | 1,667 | 7.90 | 211 | 123 | 1,287 | 0.77 | |
| 34 | Aaron Rodgers | 1,643 | 6.90 | 238 | 154 | 1,675 | 1.02 | |
| 35 | C.J. Beathard | 1,625 | 7.25 | 224 | 123 | 1,430 | 0.88 |
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- Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt
- Quarterback Pressure Rate
- Defensive Blitz Rate
- Quarterbacks vs Man and Zone Coverage
- Pass Rate Over Expected
- Clean-Core Rating
- Usage vs Production
- Team Expected Points Added
- Quarterback EPA per Dropback
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- Air Yards Share
- Stacked Box Rate
- Regression Flags
- Weighted Opportunity Rating
- Snap Share
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- Receiving Yards per Pass Snap
- Availability
- Tight End Receiving Efficiency
- Tight End Average Depth of Target
- Stat Stickiness
- 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
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