Friday, October 19, 2012

NFL Per-Franchise Passing Leaders

After Ben Roethlisberger overtook Terry Bradshaw as the Steelers quarterback with the most passing yards, I was inspired to take a look at how things stand for all the NFL franchises. Here's the results:

FranchiseYardsYds/startQB
Packers 61655 253.0 Brett Favre (*)
Dolphins 61361 240.0 Dan Marino (+)
Colts 54828 214.0 Peyton Manning (*)
Broncos 51475 231.0 John Elway (+)
Chargers 43040 171.0 Dan Fouts (+)
Patriots 41824 164.0 Tom Brady (*)
Bills 35467 140.4 Jim Kelly (+)
49ers 35124 182.6 Joe Montana (+)
Cardinals 34639 164.6 Jim Hart
Titans 33685 173.0 Warren Moon (+)
Giants 33462 167.6 Phil Simms
Vikings 33098 143.0 Fran Tarkenton (+)
Cowboys 32942 199.6 Troy Aikman (+)
Eagles 32873 231.5 Donovan McNabb
Bengals 32838 190.9 Ken Anderson
Saints 30114 301.1 Drew Brees
Seahawks 29434 224.7 Matt Hasselbeck
Chiefs 28507 181.6 Len Dawson (+)
Steelers 28066 237.8 Ben Roethlisberger
Jets 27057 214.7 Joe Namath (+)
Jaguars 25698 219.6 Mark Brunell
Redskins 25206 203.3 Joe Theismann
Rams 23758 226.3 Jim Everett
Browns 23713 213.6 Brian Sipe
Falcons 23470 194.0 Steve Bartkowski
Panthers 19258 214.0 Jake Delhomme
Raiders 19078 198.7 Ken Stabler
Texans 18297 261.4 Matt Schaub
Lions 15710 184.8 Bobby Layne (+)
Ravens 15506 224.7 Joe Flacco
Buccaneers 14820 205.8 Vinny Testaverde
Bears 14686 114.7 Sid Luckman (+)

Comments:

  • Players marked with a (+) are in the Hall of Fame. Players marked with a (*) are certain to get in easily when the time comes. Players in bold are the current starters for the indicated team.

  • Also note that these are franchise records; Favre has more career passing yards than that, but only including his time with the Jets and Vikings.

  • Some time later this season, Aaron Rodgers should make it a third of the way to Brett Favre's total with the Packers.

  • There are a number of franchise records that are close to being broken, and should fall in the next couple years. For each of the following, you should assume a caveat of "assuming they remain healthy and don't get benched".

  • Eli Manning should pass Phil Simms for the Giants' record sometime next year.

  • Matt Ryan is about two years from passing Steve Bartkowski for the Falcons' record.

  • Matt Stafford is about two years away from Bobby Layne's record for the Lions.

  • Josh Freeman (again, assuming he doesn't get benched) should pass Vinny Testaverde's record for the Bucs next year.

  • Jay Cutler is about 19 games from passing Sid Luckman's record for the Bears.