John Elway vs Patrick Mahomes

John Elway

2of 3 lines

Patrick Mahomes

1of 3 lines

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes compared on their NFL careers: John Elway played 16 seasons, 1983 to 1998, Patrick Mahomes 10 seasons, 2017 to 2026. John Elway has 51,475 passing yards to Patrick Mahomes's 36,976. John Elway won 2 titles, Patrick Mahomes won 3 titles.

Who has the better career numbers?

John Elway leads in 2 of the 3 lines, Patrick Mahomes in 1. Bold marks the better figure; playing time — games, minutes, at-bats, innings — is not scored.

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes career totals
234GP130
51,475, betterYDS36,976
300, betterTD276
7.1AVG7.7, better

How do they compare in the playoffs?

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes postseason
22GP21
4,964YDS5,814, better
27TD46, better
7.6AVG7.7, better

Where each stands all time

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes all-time places
12th (51,475), betterPassing yards32nd (36,976)
15th (300), betterPassing touchdowns19th (276)

Among the NFL players with a career line on file, regular season, counting stats only — the same lists the records pages run on.

Titles and awards

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes titles and awards
2Championships3, better
1MVP2, better
1Super Bowl MVP3, better
—Offensive Player of the Year1, better

Awards come from the league’s published winner lists; a championship counts a season played for the club that won it.

Season by season

Lined up by career year, not by calendar: each row is the players’ nth season.

John Elway and Patrick Mahomes season by season
YDS: Yards gained through the air, on the ground or after a catch, whichever this table counts.TD: Touchdowns, worth six points before the extra point.INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender.YDS: Yards gained through the air, on the ground or after a catch, whichever this table counts.TD: Touchdowns, worth six points before the extra point.INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender.
1st19831,663, better7, better14201728401, better
2nd19842,598181520185,097, better50, better12, better
3rd19853,891222320194,031, better26, better5, better
4th19863,485191320204,740, better38, better6, better
5th19873,1981912, better20214,839, better37, better13
6th19883,309171920225,250, better41, better12, better
7th19893,051181820234,183, better27, better14, better
8th19903,526151420243,928, better26, better11, better
9th19913,253131220253,587, better22, better11, better
10th19922,242, better10, better1720261,03792, better
11th19934,0302510————
12th19943,4901610————
13th19953,9702614————
14th19963,3282614————
15th19973,6352711————
16th19982,8062210————

What the columns mean: INT