What is Yards After Contact Per Attempt? (Fantasy Football)

The most avid consumers of advanced football stats instantly recognize terms such as YPA, DVOA, aDOT and YAC. To other football fans, this hodgepodge of acronyms is unrecognizable. You don’t need to know all the advanced stats in order to enjoy football, but if you want a greater understanding of a complicated game in which 22 players are trying to perform their unique assignments on every play, advanced stats can help bring order to the chaos.

If you want to learn more about advanced football stats and further enhance your enjoyment of the world’s greatest sport, we’ve got you covered. This glossary explains some terms that might be second nature to the nerdiest of the football nerds but might not be familiar to other fans. Let’s take a closer look at Yards After Contact Per Attempt.

How to Use Yards After Contact Per Attempt in Fantasy Football

Learn more with our Fantasy Football Deep Stat Analysis Glossary & Guide

What is Yards After Contact Per Attempt?

Yards After Contact Per Attempt is a crucial statistic in football used to evaluate a running back or a receiver’s performance. Yards After Contact is defined by the number of yards that an offensive player gains after first being touched by a defender. Since the aim of the offense is to gain yards, a high YAC/A indicates that the offensive player is skilled in breaking through tackle attempts and gaining additional yardage after encountering defenders.

How is Yards After Contact Per Attempt Calculated?

The formula to calculate YAC/A for a running back or a receiver is:

(Yards gained after first contact / Number of attempts)

For example, let’s consider a running back. Suppose he rushed for a total of 1,000 yards, with 250 yards after contact. His YAC/A would be:

250 / (number of rushing attempts)

If he had 200 rushing attempts, his YAC/A would be:

250 / 200 = 1.25

YAC/A in this case would be 1.25 yards, meaning that he gains an additional 1.25 yards after being touched by a defensive player.

Why Yards After Contact Per Attempt is Important for Fantasy Football Strategy

YAC/A provides insight into an individual player’s performance, particularly the ability of a running back or receiver to break tackles and run through defenders. In the NFL, the average YAC/A is approximately 1.5 yards. Players who consistently have a YAC/A of 2 yards or higher are considered to be elite and invaluable to their teams.

In addition to evaluating individual player performance, YAC/A is also used as a metric to analyze team performance. Teams with a high average YAC/A indicate that their offensive players excel at breaking tackles and gaining additional yards. The introduction of YAC/A into football analytics has allowed teams to evaluate their players’ performance more accurately and make more informed decisions about team strategy.

Factors Affecting Yards After Contact Per Attempt

Several factors can affect a player’s YAC/A, including the player’s size and weight, speed, agility and strength. A player’s savvy in identifying and exploiting gaps in the defense, as well as his ability to break tackles and elude defenders, are also significant factors.

Additionally, the play-calling strategies of the coach, the skill level of the offensive line and the quality of the opposition’s defense can also influence a player’s YAC/A.