Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, is currently the all-time passing leader in the National Football League (NFL) with 74,437 yards (as of December 30th, 2018). He is only one of four players in NFL history with more than 70 thousand passing yards. The other three are Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Tom Brady.

NFL game more pass-oriented today

Over time the game of football has evolved at the professional level. Offenses in the NFL are now putting more emphasis on the passing game as the per game average of passing yards has gone up over the past decades, increasing by more than ten percent on average in the years 2010-2018 compared to the previous decade (2000-2009). This is a contributing factor to the fact that most players on the list have played or at least finished their career after the year 2000.

First player to 80k yards?

Two active players today have a shot at reaching 80,000 passing yards in their career: Current career passing leader Drew Brees and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Drew Brees is currently about 5,500 yards away from the mark and has a real chance to pass it with two more years of solid production. Tom Brady would probably need two more full seasons of decent production as he is still around 9,500 yards away from 80,000.