Minimum Requirements For Football Leaderboards
The NFL requires players to reach certain minimums to qualify as a leader in per-game stats, percentage stats, and passer rating. For instance, using the chart below, you can see that in 1975 a passer would have needed 10 pass attempts per game over 14 games (i.e. at least 140 pass attempts) to qualify as that year's leader in passing yards per attempt. The following are the minimum requirements to appear on our single season and career leaderboards for each stat:
Stat Mimimums
Stat Type | Season Minimum | Career Minimum | Playoff Minimum |
---|---|---|---|
Passing | Prior to 1976, 10 pass attempts per team game 1976-1977, 12 pass attempts per team game 1978-now, 14 pass attempts per team game | 1,500 attempts | 150 attempts |
Rushing | 6.25 rushing attempts per team game | 750 rushing attempts | 20 rushing attempts |
Receiving | 1.875 receptions per team game | 200 receptions | 8 receptions |
FG | 1 field goal attempt per team game | 100 field goal attempts | - |
PAT | - | 200 XP attempts | - |
Punting | 2.5 punts per team game | 250 punts | - |
Punt Returns | 1.25 punt return per team game | 75 punt returns | - |
Kick Returns | 1.25 kick return per team game | 75 kick returns | - |
Note that when a stat has a "per team game" requirement, the following number of team games apply to seasons:
Yearly Games
Year | Games | Notes |
---|---|---|
1978-present | 16 | Excludes strike years of 1987 and 1982 |
1987 | 15 | Strike year |
1982 | 9 | Strike year |
1961-1977 | 14 | |
1947-1960 | 12 | |
1946 | 11 | |
1945 | 10 | |
1944 | 9 | |
1943 | 8 | |
1937-1942 | 11 | |
1935-1936 | 12 | |
1925-1934 | 11 | |
1920-1924 | 8 |
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