Trey McBride (TE, ARI) led tight ends in air yards in 2025 at 1,126. 136 players recorded air yards in 2025.
Air yards count the distance the ball travelled in the air on every target, caught or not. It separates a receiver who is genuinely being thrown downfield from one whose yards come after the catch, and it is the raw material behind target share's more useful cousins.
| Rank | Player | Pos | Team | Air Yards | Targets | Rec Yards | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trey McBride | TE | ARI | 1,126 | 169 | 1,239 | 17 |
| 2 | Kyle Pitts | TE | ATL | 869 | 118 | 928 | 17 |
| 3 | Juwan Johnson | TE | NO | 773 | 102 | 889 | 17 |
| 4 | Colston Loveland | TE | CHI | 746 | 82 | 713 | 16 |
| 5 | Travis Kelce | TE | KC | 735 | 108 | 851 | 17 |
| 6 | Hunter Henry | TE | NE | 710 | 87 | 768 | 17 |
| 7 | Dalton Schultz | TE | HOU | 659 | 106 | 777 | 17 |
| 8 | Zach Ertz | TE | WAS | 656 | 72 | 504 | 13 |
| 9 | Harold Fannin Jr. | TE | CLE | 646 | 107 | 731 | 16 |
| 10 | Oronde Gadsden II | TE | LAC | 624 | 69 | 664 | 15 |
| 11 | Theo Johnson | TE | NYG | 616 | 74 | 528 | 15 |
| 12 | Tyler Warren | TE | IND | 602 | 112 | 817 | 17 |
| 13 | Dallas Goedert | TE | PHI | 583 | 82 | 591 | 15 |
| 14 | Brock Bowers | TE | LV | 560 | 86 | 680 | 12 |
| 15 | Mark Andrews | TE | BAL | 508 | 70 | 422 | 17 |
| 16 | Jake Ferguson | TE | DAL | 475 | 102 | 600 | 17 |
| 17 | Terrance Ferguson | TE | LA | 466 | 25 | 231 | 11 |
| 18 | Dalton Kincaid | TE | BUF | 465 | 49 | 571 | 12 |
| 19 | George Kittle | TE | SF | 460 | 69 | 628 | 11 |
| 20 | Cole Kmet | TE | CHI | 421 | 48 | 347 | 16 |
| 21 | Cade Otton | TE | TB | 419 | 81 | 572 | 15 |
| 22 | Mike Gesicki | TE | CIN | 418 | 42 | 307 | 12 |
| 23 | Brenton Strange | TE | JAX | 414 | 60 | 540 | 12 |
| 24 | Mason Taylor | TE | NYJ | 375 | 65 | 369 | 13 |
| 25 | Chig Okonkwo | TE | TEN | 366 | 79 | 560 | 17 |
| 26 | Darren Waller | TE | MIA | 359 | 34 | 283 | 9 |
| 27 | Evan Engram | TE | DEN | 331 | 76 | 461 | 16 |
| 28 | Dawson Knox | TE | BUF | 329 | 49 | 417 | 16 |
| 29 | T.J. Hockenson | TE | MIN | 329 | 66 | 438 | 15 |
| 30 | Pat Freiermuth | TE | PIT | 323 | 54 | 486 | 15 |
| 31 | Gunnar Helm | TE | TEN | 303 | 55 | 357 | 16 |
| 32 | AJ Barner | TE | SEA | 297 | 68 | 519 | 17 |
| 33 | Isaiah Likely | TE | BAL | 287 | 36 | 307 | 12 |
| 34 | Sam LaPorta | TE | DET | 277 | 49 | 489 | 9 |
| 35 | Luke Musgrave | TE | GB | 266 | 31 | 252 | 13 |
| 36 | David Njoku | TE | CLE | 253 | 48 | 293 | 11 |
| 37 | Colby Parkinson | TE | LA | 248 | 56 | 408 | 14 |
| 38 | Daniel Bellinger | TE | NYG | 244 | 26 | 286 | 13 |
| 39 | Darnell Washington | TE | PIT | 242 | 43 | 364 | 13 |
| 40 | Michael Mayer | TE | LV | 240 | 50 | 328 | 13 |
| 41 | Noah Gray | TE | KC | 239 | 37 | 178 | 14 |
| 42 | Austin Hooper | TE | NE | 234 | 26 | 263 | 13 |
| 43 | Jonnu Smith | TE | PIT | 234 | 54 | 222 | 17 |
| 44 | Jake Tonges | TE | SF | 233 | 46 | 293 | 10 |
| 45 | Elijah Arroyo | TE | SEA | 220 | 26 | 179 | 13 |
| 46 | Tucker Kraft | TE | GB | 201 | 44 | 489 | 8 |
| 47 | Luke Schoonmaker | TE | DAL | 165 | 23 | 132 | 14 |
| 48 | Ja'Tavion Sanders | TE | CAR | 164 | 34 | 190 | 12 |
| 49 | Tommy Tremble | TE | CAR | 163 | 37 | 249 | 15 |
| 50 | Greg Dulcich | TE | MIA | 155 | 33 | 335 | 9 |
Showing the top 50 of 136 qualified players. Narrow it down by position: wide receivers · tight ends · running backs.
Air Yards leaders, all positions
Air Yards by position: wide receivers · running backs
More 2025 leaderboards: Average Depth of Target leaders · Yards After Catch leaders · WOPR leaders · Air Yards Share leaders · all NFL stats
Trey McBride (TE, ARI) led tight ends in air yards in 2025 at 1,126. Kyle Pitts (TE, ATL) was next at 869.
Air yards count the distance the ball travelled in the air on every target, caught or not. It separates a receiver who is genuinely being thrown downfield from one whose yards come after the catch, and it is the raw material behind target share's more useful cousins.
136 players qualified for the 2025 air yards leaderboard among tight ends. The table above lists the top 50.
Stats as of July 28, 2026. Data from nflverse (nflverse-data), licensed CC BY 4.0. Source: nflverse-data. License: CC-BY-4.0.