The first 3,000 yard passer, the first 4,000 yard passer, and some baseball player.
Green Bay’s Arnie Herber (1936) and Cecil Isbell (1942) were the first players to ever throw for 1,000 and 2,000 yards in a season, respectively. In 1960, Johnny Unitas became the first quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. That same year, Frank Tripucka and Jack Kemp each topped the 3,000 yard mark in the 14-game AFL season (the NFL switched from 12 to 14 games the next year). In 1967, Joe Namath threw for 4,000 yards for the Jets in the AFL. Do you know who was the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in the NFL?
Dan Fouts threw for 4,082 yards in 1979, becoming the first quarterback since Joe Namath to reach that mark. He again broke the single-season passing yards record in 1980 with 4,715 yards, and set the mark a third time in 1981 with 4,802 yards.
