List of National Football League career passing yards leaders
Historical passing yards leaders
Ten players are recognised 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 19 years.

List of National Football League career passing yards leaders

Section Title: Historical passing yards leaders
Table Section Text: Ten players are recognised 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 19 years.

Reign	Player	Team(s) while leader	Career passing yards	Season(s)

1932–1942 (11 years)	Arnie Herber^	Green Bay Packers	639	1932

1,295	1933

2,094	1934

2,823	1935

4,062	1936

4,746	1937

5,082	1938

6,189	1939

6,749	1940–1942

1943–1958 (16 years)	Sammy Baugh^	Washington Redskins	8,379	1943

9,228	1944

10,897	1945

12,060	1946

14,998	1947

17,597	1948

19,500	1949

20,630	1950

21,734	1951

21,886	1952–1958

1959–1963 (5 years)	Bobby Layne^	Pittsburgh Steelers	22,063	1959

23,877	1960

25,082	1961

26,768	1962–1963

1964–1967 (4 years)	Y. A. Tittle^	New York Giants	28,339	1964–1967

1968–1975 (8 years)	Johnny Unitas^	Baltimore Colts (1968–1972) San Diego Chargers (1973)	33,160	1968

35,502	1969

37,715	1970

38,657	1971

39,768	1972

40,239	1973–1975

1976–1994 (19 years)	Fran Tarkenton^	Minnesota Vikings	41,801	1976

43,535	1977

47,003	1978–1994

1995–2006 (12 years)	Dan Marino^	Miami Dolphins	48,841	1995

51,636	1996

55,416	1997

58,913	1998

61,361	1999–2006

2007–2014 (8 years)	Brett Favre^	Green Bay Packers (2007) New York Jets (2008) Minnesota Vikings (2009–2010)	61,655	2007

65,127	2008

69,329	2009

71,838	2010–2014

2015–2017 (3 years)	Peyton Manning	Denver Broncos	71,940	2015–2017

Since 2018 (1 year)	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints	74,437	2018

Sentence(s)

Y. A. Tittle^ career passing yards total in the NFL stands at 28,339.

final_sentence: Y. A. Tittle^ career passing yards total in the NFL stands at 28,339.