Pro Football Focus came out with their projections for the NFL passing leaders for the 2022 season, and to probably no surprise, Tom Brady is projected to once again go off for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throwing the ball.
Pro Football Focus holds a lot of sway when it comes to what they have to say about the NFL. With advanced stats and analytics playing such a huge part in not just the NFL, but sports as a whole, coupled with the always-soaring popularity of fantasy football, which is literally all numbers, it’s no surprise that this is the case.
As such, when they come out with their projections, people take it for a decent amount of grains of salt. What they had to say about Tom Brady should be music to Buccaneers fans’ ears, or eyes in this case since they’re reading. It should also be a heads-up for any fantasy football owners that they should consider shooting the GOAT up their draft boards.
Pro Football Focus currently projects that Brady will throw for 5,046 yards, and 38 touchdowns for the 2022 NFL season, both of which they project would lead the league. They project that the rest of the top-five would round out with Patrick Mahomes projected to throw for 4,801 yards, Matthew Stafford with 4,769 yards, Josh Allen right behind with 4,768 yards, and finally Justin Herbert with 4,707 projected yards. As for touchdowns, the top five look almost the same with Stafford again right behind Brady with 36 projected touchdown passes, followed by Allen with 33, Mahomes with 32, and Aaron Rodgers with 31.
If these stats are anything to go by, then it would appear that they are also projecting Brady to take home the MVP, given that he is projected to be the only 5,000-yard passer, and win the passing title pretty comfortably. After all, the MVP has essentially become a quarterback-exclusive award at this point.
Should these projections hold up, or at the very least close to it, it would be Brady’s third 5,000-yard campaign, and the third most he’s ever thrown behind his 2021 and 2011 seasons. As for touchdowns, 38 would be just behind his 2011, 2020, 2021, and record-breaking 2007 season.
For those keeping score at home, Pro Football Focus projected Brady to throw for 5,265 yards and topped the league last year, and he ended up topping the league at 5,316. He was also robbed of the MVP if we’re being honest. Do with this what you will.
The fact that Tom Brady will be 45 years young when he’s projected to do this is honestly just medically fascinating at this point. Should he win the passing title this comfortably, with yet another winning season to boot, Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will be smiling as they should have their first MVP winner, and hopefully third Super Bowl winner. As for fantasy football? Take the GOAT. Don’t overthink it the guy’s a winner.