All-Time NFL Yards Leaders

There is nothing more impressive in the NFL than a quarterback throwing a touchdown pass. A player can be a good running back or wide receiver, but it takes an incredible quarterback to get a ball into the endzone. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning are all widely considered the greatest quarterbacks in league history.

These players have a combined total of over 89 thousand passing yards and a number of touchdown passes in their career. They are joined by other all-time greats like Brett Favre and John Elway. It’s no wonder that they are considered among the best of all time in the NFL.

Aside from those all-time greats, there are a number of outstanding individual seasons by other players in the league. For example, Antonio Brown had a huge season in 2015 with over 1800 receiving yards and 136 catches. This was followed up by a season the year prior where he had 1700 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski was also a top-notch tight end, recording over 1300 yards with 91 catches and 16 touchdowns.

The NFL has seen a few 10,000 yard rushers in the league’s history. Jerry Rice is one of the most famous, and he had a couple of great seasons in his career with the San Francisco 49ers. He had over 2000 yards in both 1998 and 1997. He also scored 187 touchdowns during his career, which is quite remarkable.

Barry Sanders was another big-time running back in the league. He had over 1000 yards rushing in both 1998 and 1997, and he scored 15 touchdowns that year. He was on a super bowl team that year, which made his performance even more special.

Besides running backs and wide receivers, there have been a few quarterbacks with outstanding seasons as well. Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre are all examples of quarterbacks who have led the league in yards in multiple seasons. Brees, in particular, has led the NFL in passing yards for more than a decade and is the all-time leader in this category.

The following are all-time passing leaders based on games played through the 2024 season. These numbers exclude preseason games. StatMuse has season-level data for passing yards going back to the 1932 NFL season. The list also includes players who have played for both the NFL and AFL.