YAC (Yards After Catch)

What it measures

Every receiving yard is either the ball traveling (air yards) or the receiver running (YAC). YAC counts the second part: from the catch point to the tackle. It captures a real and distinct skill set, vision, tackle-breaking, and acceleration in space, but it is also heavily manufactured. Screens and shallow crossers are designed to generate YAC, so a player's YAC total reflects his usage as much as his open-field talent.

Splitting a receiver's production into air and YAC is one of the fastest ways to understand his role: a deep threat and a YAC merchant can post identical yardage lines that mean completely different things.

How it is computed here

The sum of the play-by-play yards_after_catch value across a player's receptions, at the week and season grain. Incompletions contribute nothing (there is no catch to run after), which is one practical difference from air yards, where incomplete targets still count toward intent.

How fast it stabilizes

Total YAC accumulates with volume and follows role, so it is fairly steady for a player in a stable scheme. YAC per reception is another story: it is spiky, driven by a few long run-after-catch plays, and regresses hard. Public models that estimate expected YAC exist precisely because raw YAC per catch overstates differences between players.

How it gets misused

• Crediting the receiver for scheme. A slot receiver living on designed screens will out-YAC a boundary receiver every season. Compare YAC within similar roles, or look at YAC relative to depth of target.
• Using YAC to discount a quarterback. "It was all YAC" ignores that accurate, on-time throws into space are what make YAC possible; ball placement is a YAC skill that lives with the passer.
• Treating YAC per catch as stable talent. A couple of broken tackles can carry a month. Season-long samples in a consistent role are the minimum for a fair read.