Russell Wilson Is On The Verge Of Breaking Jon Kitna’s Record

by Chase Stuart on November 18, 2017

In 2006, playing for the Detroit Lions, quarterback Jon Kitna was responsible for every pass attempt by the team. He wound up throwing for 4,208 yards, and ran for another 156 yards. The Lions, being a terrible 3-13 team, finished 32nd in rushing attempts (because they were always losing) and 2nd in pass attempts (because they were always losing).

So you won’t be surprised to see that the Lions threw for a lot of yards (7th most in the NFL) and ran for not many yards (last). And since Kitna took every passing attempt, well, Kitna was responsible for most of the Lions total yards. In fact, the 4,364 yards he totaled wound up representing 81.7% of the Lions 5,337 team yards from scrimmage. That is the most in a single season by any player in NFL history… until, maybe, now.

Russell Wilson has accounted for (thrown or rushed for) 82.1 percent of the @Seahawks scrimmage yards this season.

That's the highest such percentage by a player in any season in the Super Bowl era. pic.twitter.com/OjweQ1NEOK

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) November 16, 2017

Here’s a good tip: if you see a stat that says Superstar X has the most Y in history, and it doesn’t tell you who currently has the most Y in history, there’s a good chance it’s a player who isn’t very good. (Also, and this is a more rare rule: if a stat says since X date, it usually means another player had a better season before X date. That’s not the case here; the “in the Super Bowl era” modifier was not necessary.)

Wilson has all 2,543 passing yards thrown by the Seahawks this year, and he also leads the team in rushing. Wilson has 290 rushing yards, so he’s accounted for 2,833 yards for Seattle this year, or 82.1% of the team’s 3,443 yards through ten weeks.

Below are the current list of single-season leaders in percentage of team yards:

Rk	Player	Team	Year	QB Yards	Team Yards	Perc
1	Jon Kitna	DET	2006	4364	5337	81.8%
2	Matthew Stafford	DET	2016	4534	5637	80.4%
3	Blake Bortles	JAX	2015	4738	5901	80.3%
4	Joe Montana	SFO	1982	2731	3408	80.1%
5	Matt Ryan	ATL	2012	4860	6116	79.5%
6	Mark Brunell	JAX	1996	4763	6017	79.2%
7	Tony Romo	DAL	2012	4951	6257	79.1%
8	Matt Ryan	ATL	2013	4570	5788	79%
9	Drew Brees	NOR	2013	5214	6635	78.6%
10	Tom Brady	NWE	2015	4859	6216	78.2%
11	Archie Manning	NOR	1972	3132	4011	78.1%
12	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	2016	4797	6146	78.1%
13	Daunte Culpepper	MIN	2004	5123	6577	77.9%
14	Eli Manning	NYG	2011	4948	6360	77.8%
15	Drew Bledsoe	NWE	1994	4595	5915	77.7%
16	Matthew Stafford	DET	2011	5116	6594	77.6%
17	Philip Rivers	SDG	2015	4820	6213	77.6%
18	Philip Rivers	SDG	2014	4388	5663	77.5%
19	Matt Ryan	ATL	2014	4839	6256	77.3%
20	Don Majkowski	GNB	1989	4676	6057	77.2%
21	Jeff Blake	CIN	1995	4131	5354	77.2%
22	Joe Flacco	BAL	2013	4043	5242	77.1%
23	Warren Moon	HOU	1991	4758	6170	77.1%
24	Blake Bortles	JAX	2016	4284	5556	77.1%
25	Brett Favre	GNB	1995	4594	5967	77%
26	Matt Schaub	HOU	2009	4827	6278	76.9%
27	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	2013	4151	5406	76.8%
28	Cam Newton	CAR	2012	4616	6015	76.7%
29	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	2013	4365	5689	76.7%
30	Dan Marino	MIA	1988	4417	5762	76.7%
31	Drew Brees	NOR	2012	5182	6764	76.6%
32	Andrew Luck	IND	2012	4629	6045	76.6%
33	Steve Beuerlein	CAR	1999	4560	5972	76.4%
34	Peyton Manning	IND	2010	4718	6183	76.3%
35	Matthew Stafford	DET	2014	4350	5706	76.2%
36	Steve Beuerlein	CAR	2000	3836	5036	76.2%
37	Drew Brees	NOR	2007	4485	5889	76.2%
38	Matthew Stafford	DET	2015	4415	5798	76.1%
39	Tom Brady	NWE	2011	5344	7021	76.1%
40	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	2015	4358	5727	76.1%
41	Peyton Manning	IND	2009	4487	5899	76.1%
42	Drew Brees	NOR	2008	5068	6663	76.1%
43	Donovan McNabb	PHI	2000	3999	5268	75.9%
44	Kurt Warner	ARI	2008	4581	6053	75.7%
45	Jeff Garcia	SFO	2000	4692	6201	75.7%
46	Warren Moon	HOU	1990	4904	6489	75.6%
47	Drew Bledsoe	NWE	1999	4086	5411	75.5%
48	Randall Cunningham	PHI	1988	4432	5872	75.5%
49	Matthew Stafford	DET	2012	5096	6752	75.5%
50	Peyton Manning	IND	2002	4348	5761	75.5%

With Kitna on top of that list (and Bortles in 3rd place), it isn’t so impressive sounding. I’d argue that what we are really trying to isolate is that Wilson has 100% of Seattle’s passing yards and 32.0% of Seattle’s rushing yards. The fact that Seattle passes a lot, while important, isn’t quite as important as the fact that Wilson has all of the passing yards and a huge chunk of the rushing yards. If you take a simple average of those two percentages, you could say that Wilson has 66% of the team’s yards this year. And while that’s impressive, it’s not quite the most ever:

Rk	Player	Team	Year	QB Yards	Pass Perc	Rush Perc	Average
1	Bobby Douglass	CHI	1972	2214	97.1%	41%	69.1%
2	Cam Newton	CAR	2012	4616	98.5%	35.5%	67%
3	Randall Cunningham	PHI	1990	4408	96.8%	36.9%	66.8%
4	Donovan McNabb	PHI	2000	3999	99.4%	33.4%	66.4%
5	Glenn Dobbs	LAD	1948	2953	96.2%	34.7%	65.5%
6	Russell Wilson	SEA	2014	4341	99.5%	30.7%	65.1%
7	Spec Sanders	NYY	1947	2887	80.3%	48.9%	64.6%
8	Randall Cunningham	PHI	1988	4432	97%	32.1%	64.5%
9	Cam Newton	CAR	2013	3964	100%	28.9%	64.4%
10	Archie Manning	NOR	1972	3132	100%	28.5%	64.3%
11	Cam Newton	CAR	2011	4784	99.1%	29.3%	64.2%
12	Colin Kaepernick	SFO	2014	4008	98.9%	29.4%	64.1%
13	Michael Vick	ATL	2006	3514	92.2%	35.4%	63.8%
14	Cam Newton	CAR	2015	4473	99.1%	27.9%	63.5%
15	Randall Cunningham	PHI	1989	4021	98.4%	28.1%	63.3%
16	Steve McNair	TEN	1997	3339	98.6%	27.9%	63.2%
17	Bud Schwenk	CRD	1942	1673	95%	30.7%	62.8%
18	Alex Smith	KAN	2015	3984	99.8%	24.4%	62.1%
19	Mark Brunell	JAX	1996	4763	100%	24%	62%
20	Timm Rosenbach	PHO	1990	3568	99.4%	24.6%	62%
21	Russell Wilson	SEA	2015	4577	99.1%	24.4%	61.7%
22	Colin Kaepernick	SFO	2013	3721	99.6%	23.8%	61.7%
23	Parker Hall	RAM	1939	1669	86.7%	36.3%	61.5%
24	Daunte Culpepper	MIN	2002	4462	97.5%	24.3%	60.9%
25	Blake Bortles	JAX	2016	4284	99.5%	22%	60.8%
26	Daunte Culpepper	MIN	2004	5123	99.2%	22.3%	60.7%
27	Donovan McNabb	PHI	2001	3715	94.3%	27.1%	60.7%
28	Rich Gannon	OAK	2000	3959	100%	21.4%	60.7%
29	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	2016	4797	99.6%	21.7%	60.7%
30	Frankie Sinkwich	DET	1944	1623	71.9%	49.3%	60.6%
31	Steve McNair	TEN	1998	3787	92.7%	28.4%	60.5%
32	Blake Bortles	JAX	2015	4738	100%	21%	60.5%
33	Steve McNair	TEN	2002	3827	98.4%	22.5%	60.5%
34	Aaron Brooks	NOR	2001	4190	99.7%	20.9%	60.3%
35	Don Majkowski	GNB	1989	4676	99.8%	20.7%	60.3%
36	Russell Wilson	SEA	2013	3896	95.7%	24.6%	60.2%
37	Jeff Garcia	SFO	2000	4692	97.2%	23%	60.1%
38	Daunte Culpepper	MIN	2000	4407	98%	22.1%	60%
39	Michael Vick	ATL	2004	3215	85.9%	33.8%	59.8%
40	Doug Williams	TAM	1980	3766	99.5%	20.1%	59.8%
41	Michael Vick	ATL	2002	3729	86.8%	32.8%	59.8%
42	David Carr	HOU	2002	2874	98.3%	20.9%	59.6%
43	Jeff Blake	CIN	1995	4131	97.6%	21.5%	59.5%
44	Mike Phipps	CLE	1973	2114	98.7%	20.1%	59.4%
45	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	2015	4165	99.9%	18.6%	59.2%
46	Andrew Luck	IND	2013	4199	96.7%	21.6%	59.2%
47	David Garrard	JAX	2008	3936	100%	18.2%	59.1%
48	Jay Fiedler	MIA	2001	3611	98.7%	19.3%	59%
49	Richard Todd	NYJ	1980	3659	99.8%	17.6%	58.7%
50	Robert Griffin	WAS	2012	4015	87.3%	30.1%	58.7%

Bobby Douglass is your leader by this metric, with a more recent Cam Newton season coming in second place.

If you compare Wilson’s 2017 to Newton’s 2012, you can see that “percentage of total team yards” tells a different story than this metric. Newton’s 2012 ranks 28th in the first table, but that’s because Carolina didn’t pass *that much* in 2012. Carolina finished 26th in pass attempts and 16th in passing yards, while ranking 11th in rushing attempts and 9th in rushing yards. So Newton played on a less rush-friendly team, but he was a bigger part of his team’s running game than Wilson has been this year.

What do you think?

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