You may have noticed that PFR has been making some additions to their fantastic website, including by adding some advanced statistics pages. For example, regular readers may recall Adam’s post this offseason about Nick Mullens and how much he benefited from yards after the catch.

In the cases of Beathard and Mullens, it’s no coincidence that both played for the same team. Kyle Shanahan’s scheme was able to exploit defenses and create gaping holes in the zone for his receivers to pick up huge chunks of yardage. This created long gains that boosted the stat sheet for his quarterbacks but only required simple throws that nearly every professional passer could make.

Well, now you can check for yourself at PFR: this page shows advanced passing stats from 2018; as it turns out, Mullens averaged 6.9 yards of “YAC” — yards after the catch — on his completions last season, the highest rate in the NFL.  And while they didn’t throw enough passes to qualify, 49ers quarterbacks C.J. Beathard (7.1 YAC/C) and Jimmy Garoppolo (6.9) also had crazy-high YAC numbers.

This season? With Garoppolo back as the San Francisco starter, his receivers are averaging an NFL-best 9.8 yards after the catch.  This page is a great resource, and also can help you uncover some surprises. For example, I expected the marriage between head coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Jameis Winston to lead to a lot of big plays down the field. Winston averaged 8.5 air yards per attempt last season, 2nd-highest in the NFL behind his Bucs teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick. But Winston also ranked last in yards gained after the catch per completion, at 3.7, a residue of Tampa Bay’s downfield style.

Arians was known for constructive a similar offense, but so far this year, Winston is one of five passers averaging over 9 yards of YAC per completion. Is that sustainable over 16 games? We have no way of knowing, but it will be interesting to monitor. And thanks to PFR’s new advanced stats pages, we can.

For fun, I graphed the passers in 2018 and 2019 by their YAC per completion, with 2018 data on the X-Axis and 2019 data on the Y-Axis. Jimmy G and Pat Mahomes are in the upper right, with high YAC numbers in both ’18 and ’19. But Winston is on the upper left, with high YAC in ’19 but low YAC in ’18.

In the comments, feel free to post your favorite new stats from PFR’s new advanced stats page. And if you have suggestions for other additions, make them here, and I’ll be sure to bring them to the team’s attention.