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Passer rating calculator: NFL rating and NCAA passing efficiency

Passer rating is the system the NFL has used to rate its passers since 1973: four per-attempt rates — completions, yards, touchdown passes and interceptions — converted to points and combined on a scale that tops out at 158.3. College football rates passers with a different formula, passing efficiency, from the NCAA’s statisticians’ manual.

Enter one stat line to see both, with the NFL rating’s four components laid out so you can tell whether a number is being carried by accuracy, by big gains, by touchdowns or by avoiding interceptions.

By Reign Creative LLCPublished More in the Football hub

Calculate passer rating

Season, game or career totals all work. Yards are passing yards; commas are fine.

NFL passer rating122.5out of 158.3

Completion component
1.91668.3% completed
Yards component
1.5629.25 yards per attempt
Touchdown component
1.7938.96% of attempts
Interception component
2.0761.20% of attempts
NCAA passing efficiency
173.20college formula

Each NFL component runs from 0 to 2.375; the rating is their sum, divided by six and multiplied by 100. The NCAA figure follows its manual’s procedure, carrying each percentage to two decimal places.

How NFL passer rating is calculated

The NFL rates passers against a fixed standard. Each of four rates is converted into points, floored at 0 and capped at 2.375, so that no single strength or weakness can dominate the result:

  1. Completions: completion percentage, minus 30, multiplied by 0.05.
  2. Yards: yards per attempt, minus 3, multiplied by 0.25.
  3. Touchdowns: touchdown passes as a percentage of attempts, multiplied by 0.2.
  4. Interceptions: 2.375, minus the interception percentage multiplied by 0.25.

Then

passer rating = (completions + yards + touchdowns + interceptions) ÷ 6 × 100

A component reaches its 2.375 cap at 77.5% completions, 12.5 yards per attempt, touchdowns on 11.875% of attempts, or no interceptions at all. Four capped components give the maximum rating of 158.3.

Worked example: the NFL’s own

The NFL’s Record & Fact Book illustrates the formula with a season of 343 completions in 502 attempts for 4,643 yards, 45 touchdowns and six interceptions. Run through the same code as the calculator above, it produces the figures the Fact Book prints:

343 of 502 for 4,643 yards, 45 touchdowns, 6 interceptions
ComponentRatePoints
Completions68.33%1.916
Yards9.25 per attempt1.562
Touchdowns8.96%1.793
Interceptions1.20%2.076
Sum ÷ 6 × 100—122.5

Reading the components is more useful than reading the total. Here the interception component is close to its cap and the completion component is strong, while the yards component is the smallest of the four — the season’s rating rests on accuracy and on avoiding interceptions as much as on big gains.

College football: passing efficiency

NCAA pass efficiency

completion % + 8.4 × yards per attempt + 3.3 × touchdown % − 2 × interception %

The NCAA’s statisticians’ manual defines its own formula, with no floor and no cap, and says the multipliers were chosen to make 100 the average rating. It also tells statisticians to carry every percentage to two decimal places, and the calculator follows that procedure, which reproduces the manual’s sample compilation:

The manual’s sample: 98 of 166 for 1,567 yards, 16 touchdowns, 7 interceptions
FactorCalculationPoints
Completion %98 ÷ 166 × 10059.04
Yards per attempt × 8.49.44 × 8.479.30
Touchdown % × 3.39.64 × 3.331.81
Interception % × 24.22 × 2− 8.44
Efficiency—161.71

The two scales are not interchangeable: a college efficiency rating and an NFL passer rating for the same stat line will be different numbers, so compare passers only within one system.

What passer ratings leave out

  • Everything that is not a pass. Sacks, scrambles, designed runs and fumbles are outside both formulas, so two passers with the same rating can have contributed very differently.
  • Context. A completion on third-and-long counts the same as one on first down, and a touchdown pass from the 1-yard line counts the same as one from 60 yards out.
  • Era. The NFL standard is fixed, not re-centred each season, so ratings from different periods are not directly comparable.
  • Small samples. With only a few attempts, one touchdown or one interception swings the rating sharply — which is why leaderboards set minimums.

For what a quarterback does beyond the stat sheet, the guide to reading a defence and the quarterback archetypes explainer cover the decisions the numbers cannot see.

Football Career Sim 2026 follows one quarterback’s career, and its seasons keep the numbers these formulas are built from — passing yards, touchdowns, interceptions and completion percentage.

Reign Creative LLC makes Football Career Sim 2026, so we have a commercial interest in it. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any league, team, players’ association or athlete.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

What is a good passer rating?
The NFL set the scale so that average passing, by the standard it was built against, scores 1.000 in each component — a rating of 66.7 — and calls 2.000 in a component exceptional. Because that standard is fixed rather than re-set each year, a rating means most when you compare it with other passers from the same era.
Why is the highest possible passer rating 158.3?
Each component is capped at 2.375. Four capped components add up to 9.5, and 9.5 divided by six and multiplied by 100 is 158.3. Reaching it needs at least 77.5% completions, 12.5 yards per attempt, touchdowns on 11.875% of attempts and no interceptions, all at once.
How is college passing efficiency different?
The NCAA formula adds the completion percentage, 8.4 times the yards per attempt and 3.3 times the touchdown percentage, then subtracts twice the interception percentage. It has no cap or floor, and its manual says the multipliers were chosen to make 100 the average rating, so its numbers sit on a different scale from the NFL’s.
Does passer rating include sacks, rushing or fumbles?
No. Both formulas use only pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and interceptions. Anything a quarterback does as a runner, and any ball lost other than by interception, is outside them.
How many attempts does a passer need?
The NFL formula works for any passer with at least one attempt — the league says so in its own explanation. Leaderboards set minimums before ranking anyone: the NCAA manual, for example, requires an average of 15 attempts per game played to qualify for its national rankings.

Sources

  1. Official 2025 National Football League Record & Fact Book — passer rating explanation (opens in a new tab)National Football League — accessed
  2. 2020 NCAA Football Statisticians’ Manual — item 16, pass efficiency, and its sample compilationNational Collegiate Athletic Association — accessed Published at fs.ncaa.org, which serves it only over unencrypted HTTP, so it is cited here by name rather than linked.

League, governing-body and team names appear here only to identify the formulas and rules being used. Reign Creative LLC's sports games and calculators are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.

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