Ahead of week 15, Matthew Stafford is closing in on yet another milestone in his distinguished NFL career. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback has thrown for 63,163 career passing yards, leaving him just 278 yards shy of passing Philip Rivers (63,440) for 7th place on the all-time Super Bowl Era leaderboard. Only a handful of legends — Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning — sit well ahead at the top of the list.
Stafford continues to perform at an elite level in 2025. He enters the week 4th in the NFL in passing yards with 3,354, and he’s coming off a dominant outing in a 45–17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, where he threw for 281 yards and orchestrated one of the Rams’ most complete performances of the season.
The milestone opportunity arrives Sunday as Stafford leads the 10–3 Rams, current leaders of the NFC West, into a matchup against his former team, the Detroit Lions, who sit third in the NFC North. With playoff positioning on the line — and history within reach — Stafford’s performance looms as one of the key storylines of the week.
Of course Rivers, 44, made headlines earlier this week with his return for the Indianapolis Colts, so he gets in the game or in a game later this season he and Stafford can go head-to-head and try to reach the 6th spot.
Passing Yards Leaders (Super Bowl Era):
1. Tom Brady 89,214
2. Drew Brees 80,358
3. Peyton Manning 71,940
4. Brett Favre 71,838
5. Aaron Rodgers 65,322
6. Ben Roethlisberger 64,088
7. Philip Rivers 63,440
8. Matthew Stafford 63,163
9. Matt Ryan 62,792
10. Dan Marino 61,361