Who has the most passing yards in a season for every NFL team?

Palmer helped revitalize the Bengals after they made him the first-overall pick. Then, he suffered a serious injury and it seemed like he might never reach those levels again. After a couple of years in the purgatory that was the Oakland Raiders in that era, Palmer was reborn with the Cardinals. In 2015, he broke the Cardinals’ record with 4,671 passing yards, and he also set a personal best with 35 passing touchdowns.

In the wake of the disastrous end of Michael Vick’s time in Atlanta, the Falcons spent a high pick on Ryan coming out of Boston College. He quickly made everybody forget about Vick en route to four Pro Bowls. Ryan has led the Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance as well, and then there is his 2016 season. He threw for 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns against only seven interceptions, surprising many by winning the MVP.

Flacco is a polarizing figure, having led the Ravens to a Super Bowl win but never, to evoke a phrase, proving to be an elite quarterback. That being said, the Ravens don’t have a great history of passing quarterbacks (Lamar Jackson’s running ability is what separates him). The same season that Ryan was setting a different bird-named team’s record and winning MVP, Flacco was throwing for 4,317 yards.

Many scoffed when the Bills took Allen seventh out of Wyoming, and with good cause. He had serious accuracy issues in college, and it looked like a team that was buying into tools, not performance. That played out for Allen’s two first seasons, but in 2020 he completely revamped himself as a player. With Stefon Diggs on the team now, Allen tossed for 4,544 yards and became an MVP-level quarterback.

Beuerlein’s 1999 season remains one of the wilder outlier campaigns in NFL history. He had been a journeyman quarterback who mostly served as a backup in his career. Then, in his season as a full-time starter, Beuerlein threw for a league-leading 4,436 yards while adding 35 touchdowns into the mix. In 2000 he was Carolina’s starter again and threw for 19 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He’d never be a starter again.

The Bears have an ignominious history at quarterback, so it’s fitting that they are the only franchise that doesn’t have a 4,000-yard season in its history. Kramer, another journeyman, threw for 3,838 yards in 1995. That somehow remains the Chicago record, and that’s why people still talk about Sid Luckman in the Windy City.

Burrow broke his own record in 2024. Of course, the Bengals missed the playoffs, as opposed to his prior record-breaking season when the team made the Super Bowl. Carrying Cincinnati on his back, Burrow threw for 4,918 yards with 43 touchdowns and only nine picks. If not for those who consider wins a quarterback stat, Burrow might have been the MVP.

This is the second-earliest season on this list. The Browns have a pretty bleak history of quarterbacks as well, at least since the team returned to the NFL in 1999. Baker Mayfield may set a new franchise record at some point, but Sipe has had the franchise record for passing yards in 1980. A quarterback with an issue with interceptions, he only had one Pro Bowl season, but he also won the MVP that year. Sipe set the Browns record with 4,132 yards.

To a younger generation, Romo is going to be primarily thought of as a TV analyst, much how those of us who grew up in the ‘90s remember John Madden. For now, though, most of us remember him as the talented, occasionally frustrating, quarterback for the Cowboys. He had some big years, including throwing for 4,903 yards in 2012. Not bad for an undrafted player out of Eastern Illinois.

Given all his years in Indianapolis, you might expect Manning to have the record for two teams. However, that actually isn’t the case. Manning doesn’t have the Colts’ record, but he does have the Broncos record. He also had maybe the best season of any quarterback ever with Denver, when he won his fifth MVP in 2013. Peyton didn’t just throw for 5,477 yards and NFL record. He also threw for 55 touchdowns, which is also the NFL record.

The Lions have not been afraid to let Stafford air it out given his big arm (and the fact he’s often been trying to lead comebacks for the lowly franchise). The 2011 season was the first one in which Stafford was able to stay healthy, the first of eight seasons in a row where he started all 16 games. Stafford threw for 5,038 yards, which at the time made him the fourth quarterback ever to cross the 5,000-yard threshold. The next year, he came close to doing it again but fell just short at 4,967 yards.

Rodgers can still put up MVP numbers in his late thirties, and he’s also got the skills to guest host “Jeopardy!” His first MVP campaign came in 2011. As per usual, he protected the ball quite well, tossing 45 touchdowns against only six interceptions. On top of that, he set the Packers’ record with 4,643 yards. Let’s see Jordan Love do that.

Watson is the second of two quarterbacks on this list to have set their franchise’s record in 2020. Of course, Watson wasn’t going up against as much history as Josh Allen. Prior to the Clemson quarterback’s arrival, there wasn’t exactly a storied history of quarterbacking for the Texans. Houston put up a lousy record, but Watson put up 4,823 yards even after losing DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals.

Luck was the heir to Peyton Manning’s throne, and he could never quite live up to that level. However, he had some really impressive campaigns before his early retirement. Luck even broke Manning’s record for passing yards in a season by throwing for 4,761 yards in 2014.

Shout out to Jason Mendoza on this one. Was Bortles good with the Jaguars? Usually, the answer to that was “No.” However, Bortles was also the king of garbage time for some bad Jacksonville teams. In 2015, the Jaguars went 5-11. Bortles was sacked 51 times and fumbled 14 times as well. The third-overall pick in 2014 got to air it out plenty, though, as he threw for 4,428 yards, a lot of it in games that had been decided already.

Mahomes could retire today and be an NFL Hall of Famer, but he keeps going and keeps setting new records for the Chiefs, and around the NFL in general. In 2022, he beat his own franchise record for passing yards in a season with his second campaign going over 5,000 yards. This time he had 5,250 yards which led the NFL. Sure, there are 17 games in the season now, but that's still incredible.

Carr is one of those quarterbacks that have been called underrated so much he's not really underrated any longer. It's hard to be overlooked when you set a franchise record, especially when you beat Rich Gannon's MVP campaign. In 2021, Carr threw for 4,804 yards, his fourth 4,000-yard season in a row

Burrow had a great season in 2021, but he didn't even have the best sophomore campaign that year. Herbert didn't lead his team to the Super Bowl - the defense bears the brunt of that - but he had incredible numbers. The Oregon product followed up his Offensive Player of the Year season with 5,014 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.

Stafford is now pulling double duty on this list. The franchise record holder in Detroit was dealt to the Rams to help himself, and his team, finally win a Super Bowl ring. Stafford threw for 4,886 yards during the 2021 regular season, but more importantly, he did indeed help the Rams win it all. Apparently, all Stafford needed was to get out of Detroit.

Adjusting for the era, we might still consider Marino’s 1984 campaign the best of any quarterback. At a time when 4,000-yard seasons weren’t the norm, Marino became the first quarterback to throw for over 5,000 yards. Specifically, he threw for 5,084 yards, which was the NFL record at the time. He also set an NFL record with 48 passing touchdowns. Marino may not have won a Super Bowl, but you can’t argue with his career accomplishments.

Cris Carter was gone by 2004, but Culpepper still had Randy Moss to throw the ball to. Moss was a frequent recipient of passes from Culpepper, helping the quarterback set the Vikings’ franchise record with 4,717 yards. He also tossed 39 touchdowns for good measure. Unfortunately, Culpepper suffered a serious injury in 2005, and his career was never the same.

We usually remember Brady’s 2007 season, when he threw for a whopping 50 touchdowns. However, that’s not the year he set the Patriots’ passing yards record. That would come in 2011 when he threw for 5,235 yards. It’s Brady’s only 5,000-yard season in his career.

Brees and Brady, Brady and Brees. These two legends played well into their forties and changed the landscape for quarterbacks over that age. The two battled back-and-forth for career records regarding passing yards and passing touchdowns. Funnily enough, in 2011 Brady didn’t lead the NFL in passing yards. That’s because Brees threw for 5,476 yards that season to lead the league, and to set an NFL record that would last all the way until…2013 when Manning broke it by one yard.

Speaking of Peyton, his brother also owns a franchise record. Speaking of that 2011 season, Eli also set his franchise’s record that year. In fact, five quarterbacks set a new team record for passing yards in 2011. What a wild year. Manning fell just short of 5,000 yards, ending up with 4,933 yards.

This is the earliest year on this list by a considerable margin. Sipe set the Browns’ record in 1980. Namath set the Jets’ record way back in 1967. He was a completely different kind of quarterback for the era. Namath threw for 4,007 yards that year. For the era, that’s like throwing for 5,000 yards today.

Wentz has seen better days in Philly. Like, as recently as 2019. While the 2020 season was a disaster for Wentz, just one year earlier he was still putting up good numbers and not getting Doug Pederson fired. In only his second time playing 16 games, Wentz threw for 4,039 yards. Sure, he also fumbled 16 times, but let’s focus on the passing record.

In 2020, Big Ben was basically only throwing the ball like two yards down the field as most. It’s crazy to remember that he was airing it out as recently as 2018. That year he set a personal high with 675 passing attempts and threw for 5,129 yards. He averaged 7.6 yards per attempt. In 2020? That was down to 6.3.

Smith came out of nowhere in 2023 to set a new record for the most passing yards in a season for the Seahawks. Then, in 2024, he went out and broke his own record. While Smith's 21 touchdowns against 15 picks was a little lacking, he aired it out for 4,320 yards to etch his name in the record books...again.

No, it’s not Joe Montana or Steve Young that has the 49ers’ record. It’s not even Colin Kaepernick. The record belongs to Garcia. In 2000, Garcia was in his second year in the NFL after spending five seasons in the CFL. He tossed for 4,278 yards, securing a few years as the starting quarterback in San Francisco. After a few years with the Niners, Garcia would hope around the NFL a bit before ending his career in 2010 in the UFL with the Omaha Nighthawks.

As a man in his mid-40s, Brady threw for 5,316 yards to lead the NFL and set a new Tampa Bay record in 2021. Then, he decided to retire. Then he decided to un-retire and rejoin the Buccaneers to keep playing in the NFL. Every throw he makes seems to set some new age-based NFL record, so why not keep at it?

Like Garcia, Moon became his career in the CFL. Unlike Garcia, Moon is in the Hall of Fame. In 1990, Moon won the MVP with the Houston Oilers by throwing for 4,689 yards and 33 touchdowns. However, 1991 is when he set the franchise’s passing yards record when he threw for a whopping…4,670 yards. Yes, Moon broke his own record by one yard one season later. There would be no MVP, though, as he threw 21 picks that year.

Cousins was not necessarily drafted to become Washington’s starting quarterback, but that’s the job he ended up with. Fortunately, the Michigan State product proved up to the task, especially in 2016. That year, he threw for 4,917 yards. A couple of seasons later he would move on to the Vikings, thanks in part to the rare fully-guaranteed NFL contract. You like that?