John Elway talks Bo Nix's rise, Broncos QB support, Mike Shanahan's Hall of Fame hopes

When Bo Nix was named the Broncos starting quarterback in September, he became the team’s first rookie to earn that role since John Elway since 1983.

There were parallels between Nix and the Hall of Fame quarterback that continued from there. Both players struggled at the start. Elway completed only 1-of-8 passes in his NFL debut and was sacked four times. Nix threw only one touchdown pass in his first four games, the low point being a first half during a win against the New York Jets in which he threw for minus-7 yards on 15 attempts during a rainy day at MetLife Stadium.

But Nix has since hit a red-hot streak Elway didn’t find until after his rookie season. Nix was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after throwing for 307 yards and four touchdowns in Sunday’s 38-6 rout of the Atlanta Falcons. Among those who have been impressed by the 24-year-old quarterback’s rapid growth — and that of the Broncos as a team around him — is Elway himself.

The first rookie QB in franchise history to earn this honor.

RT to congratulate QB Bo Nix on being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week‼️

📰 » https://t.co/a7Aa334bNf pic.twitter.com/h4x7U97LPT

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 20, 2024

“He’s very talented and very mature; he played 60 college games, which is unheard of for most young guys who come into the NFL,” Elway said of Nix. “It gave him a big step forward. The combination of what Bo is doing and, even more importantly, (the way) Sean (Payton) and (quarterbacks coach) Davis Webb are handling him and putting him in the right situations. Then, you look at the Broncos playing great defense. They haven’t put Bo in situations he hasn’t been able to handle. They’ve been able to grow him over this season and you’ve seen his maturation already and the confidence level that’s growing with the offense and what Sean’s doing.”

Elway spoke with The Athletic on Wednesday as part of a promotional public health campaign that raising awareness for — and treatment of — Dupuytren’s contracture (DC), a progressive hand condition caused by a build-up of collagen that forms a rope-like chord in the palm and makes it difficult to bend fingers. It’s a condition that affects as many as 17 million Americans, and Elway first announced his battle with the debilitating issue five years ago. Since then, he insists, it’s an aspect of his life he gets asked about frequently by strangers he meets, many eager to share their own stories of dealing with DC.

“It’s amazing the amount of people that come up that have this and ask me about it, whether it’s in their fingers of the palm of their hands,” Elway said. “So it’s been good for me to help get the word out and help those people who look at their hands and kind of wonder what’s going on.”

Elway has done the math. He had 19 surgeries during his playing career. When he was diagnosed with DC he learned there was no cure. Surgery “was really the only option” for treatment Elway was presented with at the time, he said. Elway wasn’t keen on having a 20th operation, so he went along managing the condition the best he could.

“I never had a lot of pain, but it was more of an annoyance,” he said. “And something that, once I found out about it, it continues to get worse and worse.”

Finally, during his penultimate season as the Broncos’ general manager in 2019, Elway found a non-surgical treatment, a medicated injection called Xiaflex that uses enzymes to break down the collagen in the affected tissue chords. The treatment was a 24-hour process that included injections into the palm of his hand and a follow-up appointment the next day.

“It’s not an easy one in the fact that getting shots in the palm of your hand is not the most comfortable thing,” Elway said. “But the recovery time is two weeks and it’s a much better option, in my opinion.”

He stressed when speaking to USA Today about his condition in 2019 that everyone should “check with their hand specialist” to discover the treatment option that works best. But the former quarterback said Wednesday that the route he chose five years ago immediately helped release the tension in his fingers, giving him mobility back in his hands. Elway has recently been dealing with a reoccurrence of DC on the ring finger of his right hand and will soon “go back and probably do another treatment.”

“It’s not curable, but there is a solution to it that releases those fingers and live a good, comfortable life,” he said.

Elway last worked with the Broncos as a consultant during the 2022 season. He isn’t around the facility much these days — though he did make an appearance during organized team activities in the spring — but his Sundays remain committed to watching the team he led to a combined eight AFC championships as a quarterback and an executive. As the most important player in franchise history, his words about the quarterback position in Denver always carry weight. As Elway first told ESPN’s Adam Schefter during a podcast appearance earlier this week, he hasn’t yet met Nix, but he’s been impressed watching the rookie quarterback from afar. He’s been struck not only by the improved play of Nix but also by the way the Broncos have built a healthy ecosystem around the young quarterback.

Only three of Elway’s draft picks from his time as the team’s lead football decision-maker (2011 to 2020) remain on Denver’s roster: offensive tackle Garett Bolles (2017), wide receiver Courtland Sutton (2018) and linebacker Justin Strnad (2020). Elway said he has enjoyed watching how Payton has helped a young roster — albeit it one with key veterans protecting Nix on the offensive line — improve around the rookie quarterback. The Broncos are 6-5, currently the No. 7 playoff seed in the AFC, ahead of Sunday’s road game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“They’re all getting used to each other, right?” Elway said. “They’re running the ball better. The wide receivers with the speed, they’re young, other than Courtland. The young guys are starting to step up and they’re all growing together. I think it’s a great combination. It’s great coaching. I think that’s a big part of it that’s not been talked about, what those offensive coaches are doing around Bo and getting him in situations where they are protecting him with good play-calling and not putting him in situations he can’t handle.”

Nix said after being drafted in April that one of the coolest aspects of joining the Broncos was that Elway was his father’s favorite player. So when he relayed Elway’s words Wednesday, they resonated.

“He’s a legend not only here for this organization, but for the entire NFL, so you do want to listen when a guy like that is talking, and you want to pay attention to it,” Nix said. “It’s an honor to be in this spot to where people like that can speak about it.”

Elway, like many Broncos from his era — and their fans alike — eagerly awaits news about Mike Shanahan’s potential next step toward induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shanahan, the Broncos’ head coach from 1995 to 2008, is one of nine semifinalists for the coaching category in the 2025 class, a group that also includes former Broncos coach Dan Reeves. A sub-committee is expected to announce one finalist next month to be put forth and considered for induction by the entire voting body.

Before Shanahan became Elway’s head coach during the backstretch of his career, he also served as Elway’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. In 1985, Shanahan’s first as coordinator and Elway’s third as an NFL quarterback, he attempted a career-high 605 pass attempts. Later, when Shanahan became the head coach after a three-season stint as the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, he built a super-charged running game around the aging quarterback and helped the Broncos win their first two Super Bowl championships.

“There’s nobody more deserving (for induction),” Elway said. “He was a great coach when he was my quarterbacks coach. He was a great head coach. When you look at what he’s done for the game of football and what he’s done with the West Coast offense, how he kind of took it to the next level, now you’re seeing all the coaches from his coaching tree that is just expanding that system on the offensive side. It all comes back to Mike and the influence he’s had on the game. You see it everywhere you turn on TV. There’s a Mike Shanahan influence offensively on what everyone’s doing in this league. That’s why Mike deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. We’re all hopeful. He’s going to get in, we just hope it’s this year.”