NFL: Most passing yards in a game, season and career

We look at the passing leaders throughout NFL history, from the most passing yards in a game, to the most passing yards in a season, to the most passing yards in a career.

Most passing yards in NFL history

1 - Tom Brady, 89,214 yards
2 - Drew Brees, 80,358 yards
3 - Peyton Mannings, 71,940 yards
4 - Brett Favre, 71,838 yards
5 - Ben Roethlisberger, 64,088 yards

Tom Brady has the most passing yards in NFL history with 89,214 regular season yards. Brady also leads in post-season yards, with 13,400.

Brady is nearly 10,000 yards clear of his nearest rival, Drew Brees, who is nearly 10,000 clear of Peyton Manning in third.

Most passing yards in a season

1 - Peyton Manning, 5,477 yards
2 - Drew Brees, 5,476 yards
3 - Tom Brady, 5,316 yards
4 - Patrick Mahomes, 5,250 yards
5 - Drew Brees, 5,208 yards

Despite leading the NFL in career passing yards, Tom Brady is eclipsed by Peyton Manning and Drew Brees for most yards in a season. Brees set the record for the most passing yards in a season with 5,476 in 2011, before Manning went exactly one yard better two years later.

Dan Marino was the first of seven players to clear 5,000 yards, doing so for the Miami Dolphins in 1984. In NFL history, the 5,000-yard mark has been passed 10 times in a single season, with Brees accounting for three of them.

Most passing yards in a game

1 - Norm Van Brocklin, 554 yards (Los Angeles Rams v New York Yanks, 28th September 1951)
2 - Warren Moon, 527 yards (Houston Oilers v Kansas City Chiefs, 16th December 1990)
2 - Matt Schaub, 527 yards (Houston Texans v Jacksonville Jaguars, 18th November 2012)
4 - Joe Burrow, 525 yards (Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens, 26th December 2021)
5 - Boomer Esiason 522 yards (Arizona Cardinals v Washington Redskins, 10th November 1996)
5 - Ben Roethlisberger, 522 yards (Pittsburgh Steelers v Indianapolis Colts, 26th October 2014)

In total, 22 men make up the NFL's '500 Club' of players to have thrown for 500 yards in a game, with Norm Van Brocklin the first to achieve the feat in 1951 (setting a record that still stands today).

Kirk Cousins is the most recent addition following the Atlanta Falcons' 36-30 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Drew Brees and Tom Brady are the only men to have thrown for 500 yards twice, with Ben Roethlisberger managing it a record four times.