How Low Can Sam Ehlinger and the Colts Go?

By Sports News Center 247 On Jan 3, 2023

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Editor’s Note: As this article was being written, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday Night Football and was taken to a local hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. We decided to delay the release of this article, and though it has been published, we ask you to remember that there are more important things in this life than touchdowns and interceptions.

NFL Week 17 – It has been a very bad year for the Indianapolis Colts, and for their quarterbacks in particular. With news breaking that Sam Ehlinger will start the season finale, the Colts’ terrible trio could reach nigh-unprecedented levels of losing.

It all started in March, when the Colts traded a third-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for Matt Ryan. The veteran came with a massive contract, but he was expected to bring stability and veteran presence to a team that had narrowly missed the playoffs in 2021. Instead, Ryan has been the worst veteran quarterback to start for a new team in years (yes, even worse than that guy in Denver). Among qualifying passers, Ryan ranks among the bottom 10 in touchdown rate, interception rate, yards per throw, and sack rate. At Football Outsiders, Ryan ranks next to last in both DYAR and DVOA.

Despite Ryan’s struggles, the Colts somehow came out of their first six games with three wins and a tie. Then Ryan threw a pair of interceptions and took three sacks in a loss to the Tennessee Titans and the Colts benched the veteran for Sam Ehlinger. A sixth-round draftee out of Texas in 2021, Ehlinger played only 18 snaps as a rookie without throwing a single pass. Ehlinger’s first start was a respectable performance against the Washington Commanders, where he went 17-of-23 for 201 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and two sacks in a 17-16 loss. A week later, however, Ehlinger completed barely half his passes while giving up nine sacks and an interception in a 26-3 loss to New England.

At that point the Colts fired head coach Frank Reich and replaced him with Jeff Saturday, a former star player with virtually no coaching experience. Saturday’s first move was to reinstate Ryan as his starter, because at least Ryan knew how to run an offense. It paid immediate dividends as the Colts upset the Las Vegas Raiders 25-20 in Saturday’s debut. They haven’t won since, losing six in a row, including a 33-0 halftime lead against Minnesota that turned into a humiliating 39-36 overtime defeat.

With nothing to lose, Saturday benched Ryan for Nick Foles. In his first start of the season, Foles threw three interceptions and gave up seven sacks in a 20-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers; in his second, against the New York Giants, he lasted only one half before giving up an interception and another sack, the latter of which resulted in a season-ending injury and put Ehlinger back into the starting lineup.

Where does this leave Indianapolis heading into Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans? The Colts have thrown a league-high 18 interceptions, and they join the Pittsburgh Steelers as the only teams with more interceptions than touchdown passes. They’re averaging 9.7 yards per completion, better than just the anemic Arizona Cardinals. Only the Denver Broncos have allowed more sacks, and no team has lost more yardage on quarterback takedowns.

We mentioned that Ryan was next to last with -373 passing DYAR; Foles would be third from last with -294 DYAR if he had enough attempts to qualify. At -156 DYAR, Ehlinger would also be in the bottom 10, tied with Carson Wentz of all people. In total, there’s nothing historic about the Indianapolis offense—this year alone, the Panthers and Bears both have worse cumulative passing DYAR. (The Colts are last by far in team pass offense DVOA, which includes scrambles; individual passing DYAR does not.) It’s unusual, however, to see this many quarterbacks on one team play this badly in the same season.

Only 11 teams in the DVOA era have had three different quarterbacks finish with -150 passing DYAR or worse. Here they are, along with this year’s Colts:

All Teams, Three QBs at -150 Passing DYAR or Worse, 1981-2022
Year	Team	Worst QB	DYAR	2nd-Worst QB	DYAR	3rd-Worst QB	DYAR
1983	HOIL	A.Manning	-192	O.Luck	-172	G.Nielsen	-167
1992	SEA	K.Stouffer	-831	S.Gelbaugh	-485	D.McGwire	-181
1994	HOIL	C.Carlson	-340	B.Tolliver	-312	B,Richardson	-239
1997	NO	H.Shuler	-532	D.Wuerffel	-239	D.Nussmeier	-219
1999	BAL	S.Mitchell	-173	S.Case	-169	T.Banks	-158
2004	CHI	C.Krenzel	-676	C.Hutchinson	-368	J.Quinn	-298
2004	ARI	J.McCown	-187	J.Navarre	-185	S.King	-181
2009	STL	K.Null	-439	K.Boller	-352	M.Bulger	-203
2010	ARI	M.Hall	-550	J.Skelton	-349	D.Anderson	-308
2012	ARI	R.Lindley	-482	J.Skelton	-324	K.Kolb	-154
2018	BUF	J.Allen	-534	N.Peterman	-380	D.Anderson	-208
2022*	IND	M.Ryan	-373	N.Foles	-294	S.Ehlinger	-156
* Not including Week 18

The most recent team in this table was the Buffalo Bills in 2018, Josh Allen’s rookie season. Allen completed only 52.8% of his passes that year with more interceptions than touchdowns while also giving up 28 sacks in only 12 games. Allen, however, did not start the season opener. No, the starter that day was this guy:

QB 1. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Z834FlGUl0

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 3, 2018

Peterman was benched at halftime after giving up two interceptions and three sacks while gaining only 24 yards; Allen played the entire second half of a 47-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Peterman returned for three games later in the year, finishing the season with seven sacks, seven interceptions, and less than 300 yards gained. Derek Anderson also started a pair of games, finishing with zero touchdowns, four interceptions, and five sacks. You’re familiar, of course, with Allen; Peterman is now a backup in Chicago, while 2018 turned out to be the last season in Anderson’s career.

Only one team has ever had three quarterbacks at -300 DYAR or worse: the Arizona Cardinals in 2010. Arizona’s top quarterback that year was—I am not making this up—Derek Anderson, who started nine of his 12 games and completed barely half his passes, finishing with seven touchdowns, 10 sacks, and 25 interceptions. For three games in the middle there, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt experimented with Max Hall as his starter with Anderson still seeing plenty of time off the bench; Hall finished the year with six games played, completing exactly half of his passes with one touchdown, six interceptions, and 14 sacks in only 92 dropbacks. When Hall and Anderson were both injured later in the year, the Cards turned to John Skelton, a fifth-round rookie out of Fordham (go Rams!) who somehow won two of his four starts despite completing less than half his passes with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and nine sacks. Hall never played again after that season. Anderson hung around the league for nearly another decade as a backup for the Panthers and Bills. Skelton started 13 more games for Arizona over the next two seasons but never got any better, finishing his career with 15 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, and 47 sacks.

Technically, the Colts have a mathematical chance to join those Cards in the triple-minus-300 club, but it’s not plausible. Ehlinger is certainly capable of getting there himself (he had -207 DYAR in that nine-sack game against the Patriots), but Foles will need a major fluctuation in opponent adjustments, which aren’t likely to change much this late in the season. It would basically require the Chargers to give up a half-dozen touchdowns this weekend—and the Chargers are playing the Broncos, so, uh, don’t hold your breath.

It’s entirely likely, though, that Indy joins those Cards and the Chicago Bears in 2004 as the only teams with three quarterbacks at -250 DYAR or worse. That was Rex Grossman’s second season, but the former first-round pick only started three games before tearing his ACL. He had not been playing very well, finishing below replacement level himself, but he was a far sight better than anyone else the Bears had on hand. Up first was Jonathan Quinn, drafted by Jacksonville in 1998 and bouncing around the NFL as a backup since then; he finished the year with nearly 100 passes thrown for barely 400 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions, and 15 sacks. Next was Craig Krenzel, a fifth-round rookie who had won a national championship at Ohio State; he completed less than half his passes with three touchdowns, six interceptions, and 23 sacks. Finally they tried Chad Hutchinson, who had been playing Major League Baseball just three years earlier before starting nine games for the Dallas Cowboys in 2002. All things considered, he played fairly well when throwing the ball, but too often he never had a chance to even do that, taking 23 sacks in only 184 dropbacks. Neither Quinn, Krenzel, nor Hutchinson ever played in the NFL again.

The Cardinals tried to solve their quarterback problem in 2011 by signing Kevin Kolb in free agency; it didn’t work. The Bears stuck with Grossman, and after breaking his ankle in 2005, he helped them reach the Super Bowl in 2006; whether that means it worked is a debate for another day. We don’t know what the Colts are going to do in 2023, but it probably won’t involve Ryan, Ehlinger, or Foles.

A few other footnotes while we’re here:

The San Francisco 49ers in 2007 are the only team with two quarterbacks (Trent Dilfer and Alex Smith) at -500 DYAR or worse.
Three teams have had four quarterbacks at -100 DYAR or worse. One was the 2010 Cardinals; in addition to Hall, Skelton, and Anderson, they also had Richard Bartel, whose 30 dropbacks produced 150 yards, an interception, and two sacks. The others were the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 (Smith, Cody Pickett, Tim Rattay, and Ken Dorsey) and the Cleveland Browns in 2008 (Dorsey again, along with Bruce Gradkowski, Brady Quinn, and—so help me god—Derek Anderson).
The Cleveland Browns in 2016 are the only team with five quarterbacks (Robert Griffin, Josh McCown, Kevin Hogan, Terrelle Pryor, and Charlie Whitehurst) with negative passing DYAR. Cody Kessler, a third-round rookie that season, went 0-8 as a starter but had positive DYAR, a remarkable achievement under the circumstances.
Though they played nearly a decade before the DVOA era, no discussion of teams with multiple terrible quarterbacks would be complete without the 1974 Atlanta Falcons. The trio of Bob Lee, Pat Sullivan, and Kim McQuilken each had between 88 and 203 dropbacks, and collectively they averaged only 3.2 yards per passing play, the lowest rate of any team in the dead-ball 1970s. And it wasn’t just the yardage—the Falcons finished with only four touchdown passes (fewest in the league) while throwing 31 interceptions and giving up 50 sacks (most in the league in both categories). The next year the Falcons drafted California quarterback Steve Bartkowski, who set franchise records with 23,470 yards and 154 yards that lasted until they were broken by … Matt Ryan.

Quarterbacks
Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
1.	Tom Brady	TB	34/45	432	3	0	3	186	175	11	CAR
In the 2022 season, Brady ranks eighth in DYAR in the first three quarters of the game, but first in the fourth quarter and overtime. So it was in Week 17: Brady ranked sixth in DYAR through three quarters, but first in the fourth, when he went 12-of-13 for 159 yards with one sack and one touchdown, plus a 14-yard DPI.
2.	Patrick Mahomes	KC	29/42	328	3	1	0	183	192	-10	DEN
Mahomes gains 39 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He led all quarterbacks in passing DYAR this week, but finishes second overall because he ran three times for 9 yards with no first downs while Tom Brady ran three times for four yards and three first downs, including a third-down conversion, a fourth-down conversion, and a touchdown. Mahomes was perfect on throws to targets at or behind the line of scrimmage, completing each of his 11 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown.
3.	Jarrett Stidham	LV	23/34	365	3	2	0	158	149	9	SF
Stidham gains a league-high 45 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. His game was one of dramatic splits. He was the week’s second-worst passer on throws down the middle, but the best on throws to the outside (20-of-29 for 330 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, plus a 10-yard DPI). His average pass traveled a league-high 10.9 yards downfield … which is good, because he was the week’s worst passer on throws to receivers at or behind the line of scrimmage (5-of-7 for 41 yards with an interception). He was the best passer, however, on throws to tight ends (6-of-8 for 127 yards and a touchdown, plus an 18-yard DPI).
4.	Daniel Jones	NYG	19/24	177	2	0	0	139	92	47	IND
Jones had a great day both as a passer (a league-best 67% success rate) and as a rusher, running 11 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns, leading all quarterbacks in rushing DYAR. His best passing came in the second quarter, when he went 11-of-14 for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
5.	Jared Goff	DET	21/29	255	3	0	1	137	137	0	CHI
Goff loses 35 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He was the week’s best passer from under center, going 10-of-12 for 129 yards and two touchdowns, plus one sack.
6.	Justin Herbert	LAC	21/28	212	2	0	0	127	124	3	LAR
Herbert didn’t throw down the middle often, but when he did, he completed all three of his passes for 15 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were on third-down conversions.
7.	Sam Darnold	CAR	23/35	346	3	1	2	124	141	-17	TB
Darnold had the week’s best passing DYAR on deep balls (6-of-10 for 165 yards and three touchdowns and one interception, plus a 6-yard DPI) and in the red zone (2-of-3 for 36 yards and two touchdowns). On the ground, however, he was last in rushing DYAR, running five times for only 10 yards with a lost fumble.
8.	Brock Purdy	SF	22/35	284	2	1	0	81	81	0	LV
Purdy loses 54 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He did not throw a single deep pass in the first half. He threw five after halftime: the first was completed for a 28-yard gain, the second was intercepted, and the final three were all incomplete.
9.	Deshaun Watson	CLE	9/18	169	3	0	5	57	50	7	WAS
Watson’s average completion gained a league-high 11.8 yards after the catch.
10.	Dak Prescott	DAL	29/41	282	2	2	1	57	68	-11	TEN
Even though Dalton Schultz had a pair of touchdown receptions, Prescott was the week’s worst passer on throws to tight ends, going 8-of-12 for 63 yards with a pair of interceptions. However, he was the top passer on third/fourth downs, going 8-of-10 for 88 yards with six conversions, plus a 51-yard DPI.
11.	Teddy Bridgewater	MIA	12/19	161	1	1	1	57	59	-2	NE
Bridgewater’s last play of the game was a pick-six that cost him 43 DYAR. In limited action he was tremendous in New England territory, going 4-of-5 for 58 yards and a touchdown.
12.	Kenny Pickett	PIT	15/27	168	1	0	2	45	32	12	BAL
Pickett had an odd night on second downs. He completed each of his four passes for 24 yards, but not one of those completions moved the chains. He also took a sack to turn second-and-10 into third-and-18.
Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
13.	Geno Smith	SEA	18/29	183	2	0	4	44	43	1	NYJ
Smith gains 37 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He was the week’s best passer in the first quarter, when he went 6-of-8 for 104 yards and a touchdown.
14.	Aaron Rodgers	GB	15/23	159	1	0	1	38	31	7	MIN
Rodgers only threw four passes to his running backs, with two completions: a pair of 1-yard gains, one on second-and-4, one on second-and-10.
15.	Desmond Ridder	ATL	19/26	169	0	0	1	18	31	-14	ARI
Ridder only threw two deep passes against the Cardinals. The first was a throwaway with no intended receiver; the second was an incompletion to Damiere Byrd.
16.	Tyler Huntley	BAL	14/20	130	1	1	1	18	21	-4	PIT
Huntley’s average completion gained only 3.0 yards after the catch, least among full-time quarterbacks this week.
17.	Mac Jones	NE	20/33	203	2	0	3	9	7	3	MIA
Jones threw nine failed completions, tied for most in the league.
18.	Sam Ehlinger	IND	9/14	60	1	0	1	9	5	5	NYG
Ehlinger came into the game with Indianapolis trailing 24-3 in the third quarter. His average completion gained only 3.6 yards after the catch, least among qualifiers this week.
19.	David Blough	ARI	24/40	222	1	0	2	8	12	-5	ATL
Blough loses a league-high 66 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He was at his best on second downs, going 13-of-18 for 150 yards and a touchdown, with two sacks.
20.	Andy Dalton	NO	18/22	204	0	1	6	7	7	0	PHI
Dalton gains 42 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He did not throw a single pass in the red zone; inside the Philadelphia 40, he went 2-of-3 for 10 yards with a sack and an interception.
21.	Trevor Lawrence	JAX	17/21	152	0	1	1	-1	15	-16	HOU
Lawrence threw only one deep ball against Houston; it was intercepted.
22.	Joshua Dobbs	TEN	20/39	232	1	1	2	-3	-5	3	DAL
Dobbs gains 40 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He was the week’s worst passer from under center, going 0-for-4 with a sack.
Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
23.	Skylar Thompson	MIA	12/21	104	1	1	1	-28	-28	1	NE
Thompson came into the game with Miami trailing 16-14 in the third quarter. He spent most of his time on the field ineffectually checking down to his running backs, going 7-of-11 for 44 yards.
24.	Russell Wilson	DEN	26/38	222	1	1	4	-37	-63	26	KC
OK, help me understand something. Wilson has been far more effective on deep balls this season (sixth in DYAR, 14th in DVOA) than on short passes (29th and 30th). So why, in Week 17, did his average pass travel only 5.1 yards downfield, least in the league? As a result of all those checkdowns to nowhere, Wilson was tied for the NFL lead with nine failed completions. Either way, he was brilliant on throws down the middle, going 6-of-7 for 112 yards, plus a 7-yard DPI.
25.	Baker Mayfield	LAR	12/19	132	0	0	3	-44	-45	1	LAC
Mayfield’s average dropback came with a league-low 7.1 yards to go for a first down, yet his average pass traveled a league-high 11.6 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He was the week’s worst passer on third/fourth downs, going 1-of-3 for 22 yards with three sacks, a fumble, and an intentional grounding.
26.	Gardner Minshew	PHI	18/32	274	1	1	6	-60	-52	-7	NO
Minshew’s average dropback came with a league-high 11.2 yards to go for a first down. With more than 10 yards to go, Minshew went 6-of-12 for 52 yards with a sack and only one first down. Speaking of first downs, Minshew failed to throw for one until the Eagles were down 13-0 in the second quarter. Up to that point, he had gone 4-of-7 for 32 yards with five sacks. But by DYAR, he was even worse in the fourth quarter, going 5-of-12 for 63 yards with a sack-fumble and a pick-six.
27.	Carson Wentz	WAS	16/28	143	0	3	3	-64	-65	1	CLE
Wentz had a bad day on throws to receivers at or behind the line of scrimmage, going 5-of-9 for only 11 yards.
28.	Davis Mills	HOU	22/40	202	0	0	1	-66	-70	5	JAX
Mills loses 37 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He was the week’s worst passer on throws to his left, going 5-of-14 for only 23 yards and zero first downs.
29.	Nick Foles	IND	8/13	81	0	1	1	-73	-74	1	NYG
Foles was the week’s worst passer on throws to his right, going 4-of-7 for 14 yards with a pick-six.
30.	C.J. Beathard	JAX	5/8	29	0	1	1	-74	-74	0	HOU
Beathard came into the game with Jacksonville leading 28-3 in the third quarter. His first pass was an 11-yard gain on first-and-10, but that was the only first down he threw for all day. He was the week’s worst passer in the third quarter (3-of-5 for 27 yards with a sack and an interception) and on throws down the middle (0-for-2 with an interception).
31.	Kirk Cousins	MIN	18/31	205	1	3	2	-95	-97	2	GB
Cousins began the day with a half-dozen straight incompletions, then completed an 8-yard pass on third-and-10, followed by a pick-six on the ensuing fourth-and-2. He was the week’s worst passer in the red zone, going 0-for-2 with a sack-fumble.
32.	Mike White	NYJ	23/46	240	0	2	4	-117	-117	0	SEA
White was the week’s worst passer on deep balls, going 2-of-9 for 33 yards with a pair of interceptions.
33.	Justin Fields	CHI	7/21	75	1	1	7	-220	-236	16	DET
Fields loses 37 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He only threw for two first downs the entire game. The first was a 13-yard touchdown to Cole Kmet that (briefly) put Chicago up 7-0 in the first quarter; the next was a 14-yard gain on first-and-10 with Chicago trailing 38-10 in the fourth. In between, he went 2-of-9 for 30 yards with seven sacks and an interception. He was successful on only 14% of his dropbacks with an average gain of 1.1 yards, both the worst marks in the league.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Total)
Rk	Player	Team	Runs	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Rec	Rec Yds	Rec TD	Total DYAR	Rush DYAR	Rec DYAR	Opp
1.	Austin Ekeler	LAC	10	122	2	4/4	39	0	73	64	10	LAR
All 10 of Ekeler’s carries gained at least 2 yards with five first downs, including 10- and 72-yard touchdowns. He added two more first downs as a receiver on gains of 14 and 17 yards.
2.	Josh Jacobs	LV	17	69	1	4/5	26	0	58	39	18	SF
Jacobs gains 36 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He only ran for four first downs while being stuffed three times, with a long gain of only 9 yards. He added two more first downs as a receiver on gains of 7 and 14 yards.
3.	Jerick McKinnon	KC	2	4	0	5/6	52	2	47	-6	53	DEN
McKinnon’s two runs went for no gain on third-and-1 and 4 yards on first-and-10. As a receiver, he had 3- and 6-yard touchdowns, plus gains of 11 and 28 yards.
4.	DeeJay Dallas	SEA	7	43	0	3/4	55	0	47	18	29	NYJ
Each of Dallas’ seven carries gained at least 1 yard and three went for first downs, the longest a gain of 17. His best catch was a 41-yard gain in the first quarter.
5.	Raheem Mostert	MIA	9	29	0	8/8	62	1	44	2	43	NE
Though the Patriots never stuffed Mostert, he failed to run for a single first down, with a long gain of only 6 yards. But five of his catches moved the sticks, including 17- and 25-yard gains for third-down conversions, plus a 2-yard touchdown.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Rushing)
Rk	Player	Team	Runs	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Rec	Rec Yds	Rec TD	Total DYAR	Rush DYAR	Rec DYAR	Opp
1.	Austin Ekeler	LAC	10	122	2	4/4	39	0	73	64	10	LAR
2.	Aaron Jones	GB	14	111	0	2/3	2	0	25	43	-18	MIN
Jones was stuffed only twice while running for five first downs, including gains of 11, 14, and 31 yards.
3.	Josh Jacobs	LV	17	69	1	4/5	26	0	58	39	18	SF
4.	Najee Harris	PIT	22	111	0	2/3	12	1	43	36	8	BAL
The Ravens only stuffed Harris once (though that one play lost 7 yards on second-and-7), and though he only ran for four first downs, 13 of his 22 carries gained 5 yards or more, with a pair of 15-yard gains.
5.	Nick Chubb	CLE	14	104	0	1/1	12	0	41	31	10	WAS
The Commanders failed to stuff Chubb even one time while allowing him to run for four first downs, including 14- and 35-yard gains.

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Total)
Rk	Player	Team	Runs	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Rec	Rec Yds	Rec TD	Total DYAR	Rush DYAR	Rec DYAR	Opp
1.	Jonathan Williams	WAS	9	30	0	3/5	3	0	-36	-19	-17	CLE
Williams only ran for one first down against Cleveland, a 12-yard gain that represented 40% of his rushing yards on the day. He was stuffed only one time, but that was a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1. His three receptions: a 2-yard loss on third-and-10; a 1-yard loss on third-and-5; a 6-yard gain on third-and-4.

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Rushing)
Rk	Player	Team	Runs	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Rec	Rec Yds	Rec TD	Total DYAR	Rush DYAR	Rec DYAR	Opp
1.	Brian Robinson	WAS	24	87	0	0/1	0	0	-30	-26	-4	CLE
Yes, Washington had two different running backs qualify as the worst of the week. And since Robinson amassed 24 carries compared to Jonathan Williams’ nine, he takes a much heavier hit due to opponent adjustments, losing 17 rushing DYAR for facing the porous Browns run defense. Those 24 carries resulted in only four first downs and a long gain of 14 yards, while Robinson was stuffed four times.

Five Best Wide Receivers and Tight Ends by DYAR
Rk	Player	Team	Rec	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Total DYAR	Opp
1.	Mike Evans	TB	10	12	207	20.7	3	93	CAR
Evans gained a half-dozen first downs, including touchdowns of 30, 57, and 63 yards.
2.	Amari Cooper	CLE	3	4	105	35.0	2	59	WAS
Cooper’s three receptions: 46-yard touchdown on third-and-5; 26-yard gain on third-and-9; 33-yard touchdown on first-and-10.
3.	Jalen Nailor	MIN	3	3	89	29.7	1	58	GB
A sixth-round rookie out of Michigan State, Nailor came into this week with two career catches for 28 yards. He topped those numbers against Green Bay with three catches, all in the last eight minutes of the game with Minnesota trailing by at least 31 points. Those three catches: a 47-yard touchdown on first-and-10; a 37-yard gain on fourth-and-3; a 5-yard gain on second-and-1.
4.	Brandon Aiyuk	SF	9	12	101	11.2	1	52	LV
Aiyuk’s totals include 10 rushing DYAR for his one carry for 16 yards. Eight of his catches resulted in first downs, including a 23-yard gain and a 2-yard touchdown; the other was a 5-yard gain on first-and-10. He also gained 12 yards on a DPI.
5.	Davante Adams	LV	7	11	153	21.9	2	48	SF
Though only four of Adams’ catches produced first downs, those included 4- and 60-yard touchdowns, plus a 45-yard gain on first-and-20. He added a fifth first down on a 10-yard DPI.

Worst Wide Receiver or Tight End by DYAR
Rk	Player	Team	Rec	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Total DYAR	Opp
1.	Greg Dortch	ARI	4	10	15	3.8	0	-62	ATL
Dortch’s four receptions: zero- and 3-yard gains on first-and-10; 1-yard gain on third-and-7; 11-yard gain on third-and-12. That’s zero first downs—indeed, zero successful plays—in 10 targets.

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