League’s best YAC helps Steelers’ passing game stay afloat despite shallow throws

Only two quarterbacks entered NFL’s Week 5 with more touchdown passes than Aaron Rodgers, who is on pace for more than 3,300 passing yards this season.

How is that possible, what with Rodgers’ passes on average this season ranking by far as the shortest intended and completed passes in the league?

Those passes, they don’t lack YAC.

No team in the NFL this season has accounted for more yards after catch (YAC) through four weeks than the Steelers. At 7.5 yards per completion, the Steelers lead the league in YAC per reception, too.

“I mean, it may not look as pretty if the ball’s not in the air 55 yards,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said, “but the way that (defenses) are going to play you, if you’ve got guys that are hard to tackle and (opponents) who want to play you in a lot of shell defenses, well then that space is underneath, and you’re really going where they’re not.

“And we have multiple guys that can run and break tackles or run out of it before they get to them, and that’s stuff we’ve been working on.”

One part of the equation is that only three teams had more broken tackles after a reception through Week 4 than the Steelers (according to pro-football-reference.com). But the ability to gain YAC goes beyond breaking tackles.

Headed into the Steelers’ bye this weekend, the team’s No. 1 wide receiver led the NFL in yards gained after the catch. Highlighted by a touchdown catch in Dublin against the Minnesota Vikings during the Steelers’ most recent game, DK Metcalf has amassed 189 YAC in 2025. Sixty-seven of those came during a touchdown that went down as an 80-yard reception during the second quarter of the Steelers’ 24-21 win against Minnesota across the Atlantic Ocean last week.

Metcalf’s 12.6 average yards gained after his 15 catches this season is almost 50% more than the wide receiver who entered Week 5 ranked second at his position in average YAC, the Buffalo Bills’ Khalil Shakir (8.5).

“That’s what DK does best, man,” Rodgers said after Metcalf’s big play in Dublin. “He can really run.”

And while that’s true — Metcalf has run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds — Rodgers deserves some credit for Metcalf’s YAC, too. Rodgers has ranked among the top eight of the NFL in YAC produced over each of the past seven seasons he’s played (Rodgers was limited to four snaps in 2023).

“You have to have the ability to throw players open,” Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth said, “whether that’s a back-shoulder throw or just understanding defenders’ hips and shoulders, having good vision and things like that. And that’s something that Aaron does extraordinarily well.”

The precision with which Rodgers can deliver balls combined with the playmaking ability of Metcalf and some of the other Steelers’ receivers has allowed the passing offense to produce despite some startling numbers in regards to their lack of downfield throws this season.

Rodgers’ average downfield figures of 4.9 intended air yards and 2.7 completed air yards per throw are easily the lowest in the league this season. But NFL Next Gen Stats measures a player’s expected YAC on every reception. Metcalf has almost double YAC over expected (7.1 yards) of any other pass catcher in the NFL this season (Jacksonville’s Parker Washington was second entering Week 4 at 3.6).

In only three games played — and buoyed by a 65-yard catch-and-run during a Sept. 14 game against the Seattle Seahawks — Steelers running back Jaylen Warren led the NFL through Week 4 in YAC per catch (14.0). The Steelers’ Jonnu Smith is among the leaders among tight ends in YAC per catch (5.7).

That it’s not merely a Metcalf phenomenon reflects positively on Rodgers.

“When you’re evaluating a quarterback, his ability to put the ball in the proper location and to allow receivers to run through catches, to throw receivers open, it’s so important,” Arth said.

“Ball-placement accuracy is everything. And no one’s better than Aaron.”