Which Quarterbacks Threw Deep Least Often in 2016?

Throughout the week here on numberFire, we've been focusing on the long ball. We looked at which quarterbacks were most efficient on their deep attempts and which went deep most often in 2016.

Today, we're flipping all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum.

Instead of looking at the guys who stretch defenses by going deep, we're going to peep those who deploy a more conservative approach. numberFire's JJ Zachariason found that there is a link between air yards and quarterback production, so this can be considered a legitimate critique of the guys who make the list. It doesn't mean they can't be effective passers, but a more aggressive gameplan has proven to be a positive on the whole.

As with the other list, we'll be basing this on the percentage of attempts that went at least 16 yards beyond the line of scrimmage during the 2016 season. This number divided by the player's total attempts will give us what we'll call their "deep rate," and we'll limit the list to just quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts.

For additional context, we'll also look at how effective those deep attempts were with the help of numberFire's Net Expected Points (NEP). This is the metric we use to track the efficiency of offenses. Here, it'll tell us how many expected points the quarterback added each time he did go deep, including deductions for interceptions and incompletions. We'll also reference Success Rate, which shows the percentage of attempts that resulted in an increase in NEP.

With that all in place, let's count down the five passers who went deep least often in 2016 and could be due for a philosophy change going forward.