Fantasy Football Stat of the Day: Converting air yards to actual yards

(Leading up to the 2021 NFL season, FTN’s Tyler Loechner will dive into the fantasy football numbers to bring you his Fantasy Stat of the Day, five days a week.)

Thursday, we took a look at the top 20 WRs based on air yards from the 2020 NFL season. Air yards are the number of yards the ball travels in the air (from the line of scrimmage) regardless of whether the pass was completed.

Today, we will take a look at the WRs that were the best at turning their Air Yards into actual yards. This stat is often referred to as RACR, which divides receiving yards by air yards. It shows how many actual yards a player creates per air yard.

Be sure to check out the free FTN Air Yards tool to play with the data yourself.

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Davante Adams, Robert Woods and DeAndre Hopkins all had more actual yards than air yards

The chart below shows the 20 leading WRs (among the top 50 in terms of air yards) based on RACR from the 2020 season. RACR is actual yards divided by air yards.

Player	Tar	Rec	Rec Yds	Air Yds	RACR
Davante Adams	149	115	1374	1309	1.05
Robert Woods	130	90	935	901	1.04
DeAndre Hopkins	160	115	1407	1381	1.02
Justin Jefferson	125	88	1400	1421	0.99
Amari Cooper	130	92	1114	1137	0.98
Chris Godwin	84	65	840	854	0.98
A.J. Brown	106	70	1073	1134	0.95
Will Fuller	75	53	879	940	0.94
Keenan Allen	147	100	992	1071	0.93
CeeDee Lamb	109	74	935	1013	0.92
Corey Davis	92	65	984	1080	0.91
Stefon Diggs	168	127	1535	1700	0.9
Tyler Boyd	109	78	836	931	0.9
Russell Gage	110	72	786	897	0.88
Allen Robinson	151	102	1250	1453	0.86
Brandon Aiyuk	97	60	751	876	0.86
Brandin Cooks	119	81	1143	1347	0.85
Terry McLaurin	134	87	1118	1310	0.85
Robby Anderson	138	95	1097	1324	0.83
Tyler Lockett	132	100	1054	1285	0.82

A few thoughts from this list:

Robert Woods joined fantasy powerhouses in RACR. Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins both produced a RACR above 1.00, which means they gained more actual yards than air yards. It’s not an easy feat, but perhaps not a surprise for such dominant WRs. Some may be surprised to see Woods join them in having a RACR above 1. Woods could join the fantasy WR1 ranks if he clicks with his new QB in LA, Matthew Stafford.
Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb both had high RACR marks. The Dallas duo put up impressive RACR numbers in 2020, with Cooper checking in at 0.98 and Lamb at 0.92. Could both become fantasy WR1s with a healthy Dak Prescott all season? Cooper is the favorite to lead the WR room in fantasy points, but both players have a chance to light it up.
Terry McLaurin is going to dominate in 2021. McLaurin was cursed by his QB play last season, and while Ryan Fitzpatrick to Washington isn’t exactly Tom Brady to Tampa, it’s still a big upgrade for McLaurin. He’s already very efficient at turning air yards into real yards, and improved QB play is only going to boost both numbers.
Don’t sleep on Brandin Cooks. Yes, the unknown QB situation in Houston this offseason makes everything very, very murky, but Cooks is underrated (once again) leading in 2021 regardless of who the team’s QB is.