Most Passing Yards in the NFL From Week 1

Tyler Shough led the NFL with 410 passing yards in Week 1 of the 2026 regular season. Jordan Love ranked second with 387 yards, while Bryce Young finished third with 361. Shough was the only quarterback to reach 400 yards, and five players surpassed 300.

This leaderboard covers the top 25 Week 1 passing totals and includes each quarterback’s team. It runs from Shough at No. 1 through Daniel Jones at No. 25, with shared competition ranks used for equal yardage totals.

For a longer-term comparison, see our most passing yards in the NFL since 2020 leaderboard.

Table of Contents

• Scope and Ranking Method
• Top 10 NFL Week 1 Passing Leaders
• What Stands Out From the Leaderboard
• Complete Top 25 Leaderboard
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Conclusion
• Related Articles

Scope and Ranking Method

The ranking uses individual passing yards recorded during Week 1 of the 2026 NFL regular season. Quarterback rushing yards, team passing totals, sacks and postseason statistics are excluded.

Passing yards alone determine placement. Attempts, completions, touchdowns, interceptions, completion percentage, yards per attempt, passer rating and game result provide context, but they do not change the order. Team names identify the franchise each quarterback represented in Week 1.

Players with equal totals share a competition rank, and the next rank skips the appropriate number of places. Brock Purdy and Deshaun Watson share 18th at 205 yards, so the table moves directly to Jalen Hurts at No. 20. Jones holds the No. 25 cutoff with 166 yards, two more than Jayden Daniels, so no extra row is required at the cutoff.

Top 10 NFL Week 1 Passing Leaders

10. Trevor Lawrence: 245 Passing Yards

Trevor Lawrence completed 18 of 23 passes for 245 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions for the Jacksonville Jaguars. His 78.3 percent completion rate, 10.6 yards per attempt and 150.6 passer rating made this the most efficient performance among the top 25.

Lawrence ranked only 10th because passing yards control this list. He threw the most touchdown passes in the group despite attempting 33 fewer passes than Shough, a clear example of why yardage and total quarterback performance are not interchangeable.

9. Joe Burrow: 254 Passing Yards

Joe Burrow completed 25 of 35 attempts for 254 yards, one touchdown and one interception for the Cincinnati Bengals. His 71.4 percent completion rate ranked fourth among the top 10, and 14 of his completions moved the chains.

Burrow finished nine yards ahead of Lawrence and 15 behind Caleb Williams. His 7.3 yards per attempt matched Shough’s rate, but Shough threw 21 more passes and gained 156 more yards.

8. Caleb Williams: 269 Passing Yards

Caleb Williams completed 21 of 29 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for the Chicago Bears. He averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and posted a 124.1 passer rating, the fourth-highest mark among the Week 1 top 10.

Williams finished five yards behind C.J. Stroud and eight behind Jacoby Brissett. His four completions of at least 20 yards included a 47-yard gain, helping him reach eighth on only 29 attempts.

7. C.J. Stroud: 274 Passing Yards

C.J. Stroud went 26-of-38 for 274 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for the Houston Texans. His 68.4 percent completion rate and 106.7 passer rating accompanied four completions of at least 20 yards.

Only three yards separated Stroud from Brissett in sixth, while Stroud held a five-yard edge over Williams. That narrow range made sixth through eighth the tightest three-player cluster in the top 10.

6. Jacoby Brissett: 277 Passing Yards

Jacoby Brissett completed 27 of 37 attempts for 277 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for the Arizona Cardinals. His 73.0 percent completion rate ranked second among the top 10, and he generated 15 passing first downs.

Brissett led the sub-300-yard group, but a 47-yard gap separated him from Lamar Jackson in fifth. That was the largest drop between consecutive positions anywhere in the top 25.

5. Lamar Jackson: 324 Passing Yards

Lamar Jackson completed 17 of 25 passes for 324 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for the Baltimore Ravens. His 13.0 yards per attempt led all 25 quarterbacks, and three of his completions gained at least 40 yards.

Jackson needed the fewest attempts of any top-five passer. He finished 10 yards behind Josh Allen despite throwing four fewer passes, and his 124.2 passer rating ranked fourth in the top 25.

4. Josh Allen: 334 Passing Yards

Josh Allen completed 20 of 29 attempts for 334 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for the Buffalo Bills. He averaged 11.5 yards per attempt and recorded a 130.5 passer rating, trailing only Lawrence and Jaxson Dart among the top 25.

Allen finished 27 yards behind Young and 10 ahead of Jackson. His combination of 334 yards, zero turnovers and five completions of at least 20 yards produced one of the strongest blends of volume and efficiency in the opening week.

3. Bryce Young: 361 Passing Yards

Bryce Young completed 23 of 37 attempts for 361 yards, three touchdowns and one interception for the Carolina Panthers. He averaged 9.8 yards per attempt, produced five completions of at least 20 yards and posted a 110.3 passer rating.

Young was one of only three quarterbacks to surpass 350 yards and one of six in the top 25 to throw at least three touchdown passes. He finished 26 yards behind Love and 27 ahead of Allen.

2. Jordan Love: 387 Passing Yards

Jordan Love completed 21 of 42 passes for 387 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for the Green Bay Packers. His 81-yard completion was the longest pass by a top-25 quarterback, and seven of his completions gained at least 20 yards.

Love reached second despite completing exactly half of his attempts because his successful throws created exceptional yardage. He averaged 18.4 yards per completion and finished 23 yards behind Shough. For franchise context, see the Green Bay Packers’ all-time passing yards leaders.

1. Tyler Shough: 410 Passing Yards

Tyler Shough finished Week 1 as the NFL passing-yard leader with 410 yards for the New Orleans Saints. He completed 35 of 56 passes, threw three touchdowns and two interceptions, and generated a top-25-high 19 passing first downs.

Shough’s league-leading volume was central to the result. His 56 attempts were 14 more than Love’s second-highest total, while his 7.3 yards per attempt ranked outside the top 10. He still created meaningful separation, finishing 23 yards ahead of Love, 49 ahead of Young and 244 ahead of the No. 25 cutoff.

What Stands Out From the Week 1 Passing Leaderboard

The Yardage Order Was Not the Efficiency Order

Shough led the NFL in yards and attempts, but Lawrence produced the highest passer rating in the top 25 at 150.6 while ranking 10th in yardage. Jackson led the group at 13.0 yards per attempt, and Baker Mayfield led in completion percentage at 82.1 despite ranking 14th with 216 yards.

The contrast shows what this leaderboard measures. Passing yards reward total production through the air, while rate statistics reveal how efficiently that yardage was created. Neither lens should be substituted for the other.

Five Quarterbacks Surpassed 300 Yards

Shough, Love, Young, Allen and Jackson formed a distinct top group. All five exceeded 300 yards, while Brissett ranked sixth at 277. The 47-yard break between fifth and sixth was larger than the entire 46-yard range separating Brissett in sixth from Dart in 11th.

The top five also took different routes to the same threshold. Shough and Love attempted 56 and 42 passes, while Allen and Jackson cleared 300 on only 29 and 25 attempts.

Lawrence Led the Touchdown Column

Lawrence threw four touchdown passes, the most among the top 25. Shough, Young, Dart, Purdy and Hurts each threw three, giving the extended leaderboard six quarterbacks with at least three passing scores.

Thirteen of the 25 quarterbacks avoided an interception. That group included six of the top 10: Allen, Jackson, Brissett, Stroud, Williams and Lawrence. Shough led the yardage category despite throwing two interceptions, another reminder that turnovers do not affect this ranking.

The 205-Yard Tie Came From Two Different Performances

Purdy and Watson share 18th with 205 passing yards, but their underlying lines were not similar. Purdy completed 25 of 34 attempts, averaged 6.0 yards per attempt and threw three touchdowns with one interception for the San Francisco 49ers.

Watson reached the same total on 16 completions and 22 attempts for the Cleveland Browns. He averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and finished with one touchdown and one interception. The identical yardage creates an identical rank even though Watson needed 12 fewer attempts.

Every Top-25 Quarterback Represented a Different Team

The 25 rows came from 25 different franchises. No team placed two quarterbacks in the top 25, so the table provides a broad opening-week snapshot rather than being inflated by multiple passers from the same offense.

The median top-25 total was Willis’s 220 yards, while the average was 246.2. Jones held the cutoff at 166 yards, two ahead of Daniels. The full group covered a 244-yard range from first to 25th.

High Completion Rates Did Not Guarantee High Yardage Ranks

Mayfield completed 82.1 percent of his attempts, the best rate in the top 25. Dart followed at 79.3 percent, Geno Smith finished at 79.2 and Lawrence completed 78.3 percent.

Only Lawrence appeared in the top 10 for passing yards. Mayfield ranked 14th, Smith 15th and Dart 11th, showing how attempt volume and yards gained per completion can outweigh completion percentage in a one-game yardage ranking.

Complete Week 1 Top 25 Passing Yards Leaderboard

Frequently Asked Questions

Who had the most passing yards in NFL Week 1 of 2026?

Tyler Shough led the NFL with 410 passing yards for the New Orleans Saints. He finished 23 yards ahead of Jordan Love.

How many quarterbacks passed for 300 yards in Week 1?

Five quarterbacks reached at least 300 passing yards: Shough, Love, Young, Allen and Jackson.

What was the cutoff for the Week 1 passing top 25?

Jones ranked 25th with 166 passing yards for the Indianapolis Colts. Daniels was next with 164, so no additional quarterback was tied at the cutoff.

Which top-25 quarterback had the highest passer rating?

Lawrence posted the highest passer rating in the top 25 at 150.6. He completed 18 of 23 passes for 245 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

How are passing-yard ties ranked?

Quarterbacks with the same passing total share a rank. The next rank skips the number of places already occupied, which is why Purdy and Watson share 18th and Hurts follows at No. 20.

Conclusion

Shough led NFL Week 1 with 410 passing yards, followed by Love at 387 and Young at 361. The extended leaderboard shows why passing volume and passing efficiency must be read separately: Shough led the yardage race on 56 attempts, while Lawrence ranked 10th in yards but led the top 25 with four touchdowns and a 150.6 passer rating.

Related Articles

• Most Passing Yards in NFL History
• Most Passing Yards in a Single Season
• Most Passing Yards Active Career Leaders
• Most Passing Yards in the NFL Since 2020

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