page_title: List of National Football League annual receiving yards leaders
section_title: NFL season receiving yards leaders
hierarchical_section_title: List of National Football League annual receiving yards leaders / NFL season receiving yards leaders
caption_attribution_description: Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on January 1, 2012. Photo by Mike Morbeck.
context_page_description: In American football, passing, along with running, 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. A player who catches a forward pass is a receiver, and the number of receiving yards each player has recorded in each season is a recorded stat in football games. In addition to the overall National Football League receiving champion, league record books recognize statistics from the American Football League, which operated from 1960 to 1969 before being absorbed into the NFL in 1970, Although league record books do not recognize stats from the All-America Football Conference, another league that merged with the NFL, these statistics are recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
  The NFL did not begin keeping official records until the 1932 season.
caption: Calvin Johnson led the league in receiving yards in 2011 and followed it up by setting the league record for receiving yards in 2012.
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