Farthest Pass in NFL History: What Mayfield’s 70-Yard Throw Really Measures

Baker Mayfield threw a Hail Mary so far that it sailed out of the end zone. His attempt for Cleveland against Baltimore on December 14, 2020, prompted SB Nation to call it the longest pass in NFL history, estimating its distance at 70.5 yards. But that figure needs a qualification: it is a published estimate, and the contemporary reports do not establish an airborne-distance record covering every NFL era.

If “farthest pass” means the longest completed pass play by official yardage, the answer is 99 yards, a mark shared by multiple quarterback–receiver combinations. That measures the play’s gain—including the receiver’s running—not simply how far the quarterback threw the ball. Guinness World Records identifies 99 yards as the longest NFL completion, while the Pro Football Hall of Fame documents the historical plays.

Mayfield’s throw: roughly 70 yards, no completion

At the end of the first half, Mayfield launched the ball from just behind Cleveland’s 40-yard line toward Baltimore’s end zone. It went beyond the back boundary and fell incomplete. Browns Wire’s December 18 report said both Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus charted it at more than 70 yards from its launch point.

The 70.5-yard estimate came from SB Nation’s James Dator. He placed the release around Cleveland’s 39-yard line, counted 61 yards to the opposite goal line, then added approximately 9.5 yards into the end zone. It was a reconstruction from field markings, so the decimal should not be mistaken for an official measurement. Dator’s calculation is the basis for that number.

Even the contemporary record descriptions differed. PFF initially called it the longest NFL pass attempt it had charted, in a statement reproduced by SB Nation. Three days later, Browns Wire reported that PFF analyst Mike Renner described it as the second-longest throw his service had tracked since 2006. Those reports support an extraordinary long throw, but not an unqualified all-time crown.

Air yards and air distance are different, too

The NFL’s Next Gen Stats glossary distinguishes two measurements that are often treated as interchangeable:

• Air yards measure downfield distance relative to the line of scrimmage. They do not start at the quarterback’s release point.
• Air distance measures the straight-line distance from release to reception, “as the crow flies.” It accounts for where the quarterback throws from and where the receiver catches it.

Neither means the full curved path the football follows through the air. And the glossary’s Longest Completed Air Distance category requires a completion—something Mayfield’s Baltimore attempt did not produce.

Why a 99-yard pass need not be a long throw

The 99-yard touchdown-pass distinction reaches back to Frank Filchock and Andy Farkas for Washington on October 15, 1939. Tom Brady–Wes Welker and Eli Manning–Victor Cruz joined that group in 2011, the first season with two such plays, according to the Hall of Fame’s historical account.

Manning’s pass to Cruz on December 24 makes the measurement especially clear. The Giants snapped from their own 1-yard line. Cruz caught a hook-route pass at the 11, escaped defenders and ran to the opposite end zone. ESPN’s contemporary report describes the catch point and run. That leaves 89 of the play’s 99 yards after the catch.

A 99-yard touchdown can begin with a short throw; a roughly 70-yard throw can end as an incompletion. That is why Mayfield’s famous Hail Mary and the longest official completion answer different record questions.