Best Passing Seasons in NFL History by ANY/A Value

by Chase Stuart on July 17, 2018

In 1984, Dan Marino averaged 8.94 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (ANY/A, defined as passing yards + 20*Pass TDs – 45*INTs – sack yards, all divided by pass attempts plus sacks) while the league average was 5.00 ANY/A. Marino had 577 dropbacks (pass attempts plus sacks), so he had 3.94 ANY/A over average over 577 dropbacks; that means he provided 2,271 Adjusted Net Yards of Value over average.

In 2004, Peyton Manning averaged 9.78 ANY/A while the league average was 5.63 ANY/A. Manning had 510 dropbacks, so he is credited with 2,113 yards of Value that season. This was Manning’s best year: even better than what he did in 2013, when averaged 8.87 ANY/A, the league average was 5.87, and Manning had a whopping 677 dropbacks. So he had 2,031 yards of Value that season.

The table below shows the top 500 passing seasons by this metric. For non-16 game seasons, the final column (ProRt value) prorates the value as if it was a 16-game season.For AFL seasons 1960 to 1964, in the pro-rated column, I assigned only 50% credit in 1960, 60% in ’61, 70% in ’62, 80% in ’63, 90% in ’64, and then full credit in the remaining seasons. I also assigned full credit for all AAFC seasons.

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Rk	Quarterback	Team	Year	Lg	ANY/A ^[1]No sack data is included prior to 1960. For the years 1961 to 1968, estimated sack data is used. For 1969 to present, actual sack data is used.	Lg Avg ^[2]AY/A is used for seasons prior to 1960.	DB	Value	ProRt Val
1	Sid Luckman	CHI	1943	NFL	10.96	3.12	202	1584	3169
2	Dan Marino	MIA	1984	NFL	8.94	5.00	577	2271	2271
3	Otto Graham	CLE	1953	NFL	9.83	3.52	258	1628	2171
4	Peyton Manning	IND	2004	NFL	9.78	5.63	510	2113	2113
5	Peyton Manning	DEN	2013	NFL	8.87	5.87	677	2031	2031
6	Tom Brady	NWE	2007	NFL	8.88	5.52	599	2014	2014
7	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	2011	NFL	9.39	5.90	538	1880	1880
8	Dan Fouts	SDG	1982	NFL	7.70	4.76	342	1007	1790
9	Otto Graham	CLE	1949	AAFC	9.53	4.87	285	1326	1768
10	Cecil Isbell	GNB	1942	NFL	6.98	2.63	268	1166	1697

Showing 1 to 10 of 500 entries

I’m short on time today, so I’ll leave the commentary to you. To help facilitate discussion, here are how many top 50, top 100, top 200, top 300 and top 500 seasons each passer has:

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Player	Top 50	Top 100	Top 200	Top 300	Top 500
Dan Marino	2	2	4	9	13
Peyton Manning	5	8	11	11	13
Tom Brady	3	4	7	9	11
Otto Graham	5	7	8	8	10
Drew Brees	3	5	8	9	10
Johnny Unitas	2	3	7	8	9
Joe Montana	2	2	5	6	9
Fran Tarkenton	0	0	3	6	9
Sid Luckman	1	3	4	4	8
Aaron Rodgers	2	2	4	5	8
Sammy Baugh	2	4	6	7	8
Norm Van Brocklin	2	3	5	7	8
Dan Fouts	2	2	4	7	7
Y.A. Tittle	1	2	5	5	7
John Hadl	0	1	2	2	7
Len Dawson	0	1	2	4	7
Brett Favre	0	2	6	7	7
Roger Staubach	0	2	4	6	7
Steve Young	2	4	6	6	6
Ken Anderson	1	2	4	5	6

Showing 1 to 20 of 46 entries

References[+]

References
↑1	No sack data is included prior to 1960. For the years 1961 to 1968, estimated sack data is used. For 1969 to present, actual sack data is used.
↑2	AY/A is used for seasons prior to 1960.

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