NFL: Who Will Have the Most Passing Yards?

Every summer, the word ‘yard’ dominates the football narrative, especially in its plural form. Yards, yards, yards. In every way shape or form – be it passing, receiving, rushing, and so on – are going to be the major talking points amongst those immersed in the NFL universe. And names naturally follow, tripping giddily off the cognoscenti tongue … Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Ben Roethlisberger, Ezekiel Elliot, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr. ….such, is the bonhomie and optimism of the preseason before the regular season gets underway….as all and sundry weigh in on which players will exceed in their respective categories.

Add in modern technology, which today brings NFL odds to smart screens around the world, putting the scintillating predictions (or any other, for that matter) to the ultimate test – on the line with a wager – and you have a veritably quantifiable debate.

One of the hottest topics currently is, who will have the most passing yards in the regular season? Going hand-in-hand with this question, is the lateral debate about Patrick Mahomes, whether he will pick up from where he left off or regress in 2019.

Now, more so than ever before, the NFL is a pass-happy league, meaning having an elite quarterback at the center of the offense has never been as vital as it is in today’s game. The epitome of this newfangled trend is nowhere better represented than it is in Kansas City with Mahomes, the 2018 Regular Season MVP.

Mahomes has featured in just one full season to date, but that’s all it took for the second-year quarterback to demand a total overhaul of the history books. He threw for 5,097 passing yards (second behind league-leading Ben Roethlisberger), 50 TDs (the most in the 2018 NFL regular season) and just 12 interceptions.

Mahomes’ 2018 season was only second in passing yards, behind the Pittsburgh Steelers’ veteran quarterback, Big Ben, who led the league with 5,129 yards. Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan came in third with 4,924 yards, Los Angeles Rams’ Jared Goff was fourth with 4,688 yards, and Andrew Luck (now retired) was fifth overall with 4,593 yards.

And the Chiefs’ signal-caller accomplished those stats with just 383 completions. That’s fifth overall, behind Roethlisberger (452), Andrew Luck (430), Kirk Cousins (425) and Matt Ryan (422). Imagine how heady his stats might have been had he completed as many passes as any of his peers did. Unreal.

Unlike some other signal-callers (who shall remain nameless, coughKirk Cousinscough) that appear to be fond of stat-padding, Mahomes’ stats were meaningful and game-defining. Translating more often than not into actual wins – the Chiefs went 12-4-0 SU to clinch the AFC West title – or tangible results (TDs), which is the only thing that really matters in a short 16-game season where the premium on winning each and every game is great.

More importantly, he clearly doesn’t need to complete as many passes to be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the league, which is saying a lot about the dynamic young quarterback and the proficiency of his game.