How often do NFL teams pass instead of run?

Passes were 56.2% of NFL passing and running plays in the 2025 regular season, down from a peak of 59.3% in 2016 and a little below 1999's 57.0%. Sacks count as passes and quarterback scrambles as runs. The chart starts in 1999, the first season in nflverse's data.

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Key facts

Measure: Passes, as a share of passes and runs (%). Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2025, is 56.2%.
  • That is down 0.8 percentage points from 57% in 1999.
  • The highest was 59.3% in 2016.
  • The lowest was 54.8%, first reached in 2003.

Source and date

Source
nflverse, NFL team season stats (nflverse-data)
License
CC BY 4.0 (nflverse)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How often do NFL teams pass instead of run?” Chart. Data: nflverse, NFL team season stats (nflverse-data), https://github.com/nflverse/nflverse-data/releases/tag/stats_team (data as of January 4, 2026). https://chart.ly/charts/nfl-pass-vs-run (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Season Passes, as a share of passes and runs (%)
1999 57
2000 56.2
2001 56
2002 56.7
2003 54.8
2004 54.9
2005 55.1
2006 54.8
2007 56.5
2008 55.5
2009 56.3
2010 56.9
2011 57.1
2012 57.7
2013 58.3
2014 58.2
2015 59.1
2016 59.3
2017 57.6
2018 58.8
2019 58.8
2020 58.1
2021 57.9
2022 56.7
2023 57.5
2024 56.6
2025 56.2

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