Bio
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Debut
- 1983
- Draft
- 1983Rd 1, Pk 1
- College
- Stanford
- MVP
- 1987
- Super Bowl MVP
- 1998
Bio
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Debut
- 1983
- Draft
- 1983Rd 1, Pk 1
- College
- Stanford
- MVP
- 1987
- Super Bowl MVP
- 1998
Stats
Totals
Career regular season
- GP
- 234
- CMP
- 4,123
- ATT
- 7,250
- CMP%
- 56.9
- YDS
- 51,475
- AVG
- 7.1
- TD
- 300
- INT
- 226
Ranked among NFL players who qualify (CMP, YDS, TD: 4+ games, 100+ ATT; CMP%, AVG: 4+ games, 200+ ATT) that season; only the top 50 are shown. How each stat qualifies: glossary.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | CMP: Passes that reached the intended receiver. | ATT: Attempts — passes thrown, kicks tried or returns taken. | CMP%: Share of passes completed. The modern league average is around 65%. | YDS: Yards gained — through the air for a quarterback, on the ground or after a catch for everyone else. | AVG: Yards per attempt: per pass, per carry, per catch or per punt, depending on the player. | TD: Touchdowns, worth six points before the extra point. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 |  DEN | 11 | 123 | 259 | 47.5 | 1,663 | 6.4 | 7 | 14 |
| 1984 | DEN | 15 | 214 | 380 | 56.3 | 2,598 | 6.8 | 18 | 15 |
| 1985 | DEN | 16 | 327 | 605 | 54.0 | 3,891 | 6.4 | 22 | 23 |
| 1986 | DEN | 16 | 280 | 504 | 55.6 | 3,485 | 6.9 | 19 | 13 |
| 1987 | DEN | 12 | 224 | 410 | 54.6 | 3,198 | 7.8 | 19 | 12 |
| 1988 | DEN | 15 | 274 | 496 | 55.2 | 3,309 | 6.7 | 17 | 19 |
| 1989 | DEN | 15 | 223 | 416 | 53.6 | 3,051 | 7.3 | 18 | 18 |
| 1990 | DEN | 16 | 294 | 502 | 58.6 | 3,526 | 7.0 | 15 | 14 |
| 1991 | DEN | 16 | 242 | 451 | 53.7 | 3,253 | 7.2 | 13 | 12 |
| 1992 | DEN | 12 | 174 | 316 | 55.1 | 2,242 | 7.1 | 10 | 17 |
| 1993 | DEN | 16 | 348 | 551 | 63.2 | 4,030 | 7.3 | 25 | 10 |
| 1994 | DEN | 14 | 307 | 494 | 62.1 | 3,490 | 7.1 | 16 | 10 |
| 1995 | DEN | 16 | 316 | 542 | 58.3 | 3,970 | 7.3 | 26 | 14 |
| 1996 | DEN | 15 | 287 | 466 | 61.6 | 3,328 | 7.1 | 26 | 14 |
| 1997 | DEN | 16 | 280 | 502 | 55.8 | 3,635 | 7.2 | 27 | 11 |
| 1998 | DEN | 13 | 210 | 356 | 59.0 | 2,806 | 7.9 | 22 | 10 |
Career Postseason
- GP
- 22
- CMP
- 355
- ATT
- 651
- CMP%
- 54.5
- YDS
- 4,964
- AVG
- 7.6
- TD
- 27
- INT
- 21
Per game
Career regular season
- GP
- 234
- CMP
- 17.6
- ATT
- 31.0
- CMP%
- 56.9
- YDS
- 220.0
- AVG
- 7.1
- TD
- 1.3
- INT
- 1.0
Per game: season totals ÷ games played. Derived here — averages, completion rate and longest plays are the stored figures and are left as they are.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | CMP: Passes that reached the intended receiver. | ATT: Attempts — passes thrown, kicks tried or returns taken. | CMP%: Share of passes completed. The modern league average is around 65%. | YDS: Yards gained — through the air for a quarterback, on the ground or after a catch for everyone else. | AVG: Yards per attempt: per pass, per carry, per catch or per punt, depending on the player. | TD: Touchdowns, worth six points before the extra point. | INT: Interceptions — thrown away by a quarterback, taken by a defender. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | DEN | 11 | 11.2 | 23.5 | 47.5 | 151.2 | 6.4 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| 1984 | DEN | 15 | 14.3 | 25.3 | 56.3 | 173.2 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 1 |
| 1985 | DEN | 16 | 20.4 | 37.8 | 54.0 | 243.2 | 6.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| 1986 | DEN | 16 | 17.5 | 31.5 | 55.6 | 217.8 | 6.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| 1987 | DEN | 12 | 18.7 | 34.2 | 54.6 | 266.5 | 7.8 | 1.6 | 1 |
| 1988 | DEN | 15 | 18.3 | 33.1 | 55.2 | 220.6 | 6.7 | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| 1989 | DEN | 15 | 14.9 | 27.7 | 53.6 | 203.4 | 7.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| 1990 | DEN | 16 | 18.4 | 31.4 | 58.6 | 220.4 | 7.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| 1991 | DEN | 16 | 15.1 | 28.2 | 53.7 | 203.3 | 7.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 1992 | DEN | 12 | 14.5 | 26.3 | 55.1 | 186.8 | 7.1 | 0.8 | 1.4 |
| 1993 | DEN | 16 | 21.8 | 34.4 | 63.2 | 251.9 | 7.3 | 1.6 | 0.6 |
| 1994 | DEN | 14 | 21.9 | 35.3 | 62.1 | 249.3 | 7.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| 1995 | DEN | 16 | 19.8 | 33.9 | 58.3 | 248.1 | 7.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 1996 | DEN | 15 | 19.1 | 31.1 | 61.6 | 221.9 | 7.1 | 1.7 | 0.9 |
| 1997 | DEN | 16 | 17.5 | 31.4 | 55.8 | 227.2 | 7.2 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| 1998 | DEN | 13 | 16.2 | 27.4 | 59.0 | 215.8 | 7.9 | 1.7 | 0.8 |
What were John Elway's career stats?
John Elway played 16 seasons for the Broncos. He completed 4,123 of 7,250 passes for 51,475 yards, 300 touchdowns and 226 interceptions. His best season was 1993: 4,030 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions thrown.
League leaderboards and awards
16 seasons, 10 postseasons, 1983 to 1998
John Elway led the NFL in passing yards (1993); finished top 10 in a stat 15 times.
Championships ×2
- 1997 Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos
- 1998 Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos
Awards
All-time career rank
- 12th in passing yards (51,475)
- 14th in passing touchdowns (300)
Among the 2,425 NFL players with a career line on file, regular season. A place deeper than 300th is not listed.
Season top 10 finishes
- Passing Yards: 1993 (1st), 1994 (8th), 1995 (5th), 1996 (7th), 1997 (6th)
- Passing Touchdowns: 1993 (2nd), 1995 (6th), 1996 (4th), 1997 (4th), 1998 (9th)
- Passer Rating: 1993 (3rd), 1994 (6th), 1996 (4th), 1997 (7th), 1998 (5th)
Among qualified NFL players each season, as the glossary defines each stat. All-time places are among players on file.
More on John Elway
Similar players
Closest career per-game profiles to John Elway among NFL players at the same position.
- Jim EverettAlike in Passing Touchdowns, Passing Yards, Pass attempts81out of 100 on profile similarity
- Phil SimmsAlike in Passing Touchdowns, Yards per attempt, Passing Yards80out of 100 on profile similarity
- Boomer EsiasonAlike in Passing Touchdowns, Yards per attempt, Passing Yards80out of 100 on profile similarity
- Jeff GeorgeAlike in Pass attempts, Passing Yards, Yards per attempt80out of 100 on profile similarity
- Warren MoonAlike in Yards per attempt, Pass attempts, Passing Touchdowns73out of 100 on profile similarity
Compare John Elway with Jim Everett, Phil Simms, Boomer Esiason