On Saturday, I looked at the era-adjusted leaders in completion percentage. Yesterday, I did the same for yards/attempt; today, we continue the analysis but for touchdown percentage.

Here’s a look at the touchdown rate in each year since 1932:

Sid Luckman has a 7.9% career touchdown rate that is by far the best of all time. As you can see, he played in a friendlier era than modern times for throwing touchdowns. By way of comparison, Luckman threw 137 touchdowns on 1,744 passes (7.9%) with the Bears; Jay Cutler threw 154 touchdowns on 3,271 passes in Chicago (4.7%).

But Luckman even ranks 1st in adjusted TD rate. Number 2 is Aaron Rodgers, who currently ranks 8th in touchdown rate. By way of comparison, Sammy Baugh ranks 7th in touchdown rate but ranks 31st in era-adjusted TD rate.

Frank Ryan was dominant at throwing touchdowns for the Browns in the ’60s, ranks 3rd overall. He ranked in the top five in touchdown rate in each season from ’63 through ’67, and 1st in ’63, ’64, and ’66. Next up are a pair of AFL stars in Len Dawson and Daryle Lamonica, followed by some of the most efficient passers in modern history: Steve Young, Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson, and Tony Romo.

The table below shows where each passer ranks in TD%, after adjusting for era. The final column, as usual, shows the difference between that passer’s score in TD%, and his average score in INT%, completion percentage, and yards per attempt:

TD Rate Superstars

Ryan is the biggest outlier here: he was a good quarterback, but exceptional at throwing touchdowns. He overlapped with Jim Brown a bit, but still managed to have an exceptional touchdown rate.

Terry Bradshaw, Steve Grogan, and Daryle Lamonica were all players who had much better yards per completion and touchdown rates than completion percentages. For those three passers, touchdown rate was their best component of passer rating. Bradshaw would actually have a below-average passer rating if not for his outstanding touchdown rate. That probably doesn’t get mentioned enough: for the decade from 1973 to 1982, Bradshaw threw the most touchdowns and had the best touchdown rate (6.0%) in all of football.

TD Rate Underachievers

Bart Starr is well-above average in completion percentage, yards/attempt, and interception rate, but he’s below-average in touchdown rate. That’s more a reflection of the ’60s Packers than on Starr, who threw exactly one touchdown pass of 1-yard in his entire career. Nearly all of his touchdown passes were far from away, because when the Packers were near the end zone, they ran the ball.

Sammy Baugh’s worst category was touchdown rate, but as noted yesterday, the real takeaway is how dominant he was at completion percentage and, as you’ll see tomorrow, interception rate.

The other names in the bottom 10 in terms of Touchdown Percentage relative to INT%, CMP%, and Y/A? Jack Kemp, Ken O’Brien, Otto Graham, Mike Livingston, Bernie Kosar, David Carr, Ken Anderson, and Troy Aikman.

What stands out to you?