List of NFL career passing yards leaders

This list shows the top 50 National Football League quarterbacks with the highest career regular season passing yards, the NFL playoff passing yards leaders with at least 2,500 yards, and the historical progression of regular season record holders.

Tom Brady holds both the regular season record, with 89,214 passing yards, and the playoff record, with 13,400 yards.

In American football, passing, along with running (also referred to as rushing), is one of the two main methods of advancing the ball down the field. Passes are typically attempted by the quarterback, but any offensive player can attempt a pass provided they are behind the line of scrimmage. To qualify as a passing play, the ball must have initially moved forward after leaving the hands of the passer; if the ball initially moved laterally or backwards, the play would instead be considered a running play. The amount of passing yards recorded by each quarterback is a recorded stat in football games.

Regular season career passing yards leaders


Through 2023 season.

Note: Y. A. Tittle passed for 33,070 yards in his professional career, which would place him in 43rd on this list, but 4,731 of those yards came in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which the NFL does not recognize statistics and records from to date. Thus, Tittle's career passing yards total in the NFL stands at 28,339.

Playoff leaders
Through 2023–24 NFL playoffs. Based on at least 2,500 postseason passing yards.

Historical passing yards leaders
Eleven players are recognized as having held the record as the NFL's career passing yardage leader. The longest record holder was Fran Tarkenton, who held the record for nineteen years.