John Elway says he’s not going anywhere.
The Broncos’ general manager and executive vice president of football operations is entering the final year of the three-year extension he signed with the team in 2014.
Broncos CEO and president Joe Ellis said earlier this year that talks on an extension with Elway began around last October and have been ongoing. At the NFL owners meetings in March, Ellis added that he was hopeful of reaching an agreement before the start of the 2017 season.
Elway is, too.
“We’ll continue to work at it. I don’t see any problem with that,” Elway said Wednesday evening at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, where he was honored with the Mizel Institute’s 2017 community enrichment award. “I look forward to being here with the Broncos for a long time.
“This is my home. This will always be my home. I’m not going anywhere. As a kid I moved around quite a bit, but Colorado and Denver will always be my home.”
Asked if he still expects to have his contract situation resolved before the start of the season, Elway said: “I don’t think there will be any doubt.”
A crowd of 2,077 attended the Mizel Institute’s annual dinner as Elway received an award previously given to Broncos owner Pat Bowlen (2013), as well as Governor John Hickenlooper (2007) and, most recently, Mayor Michael B. Hancock of Denver (2016).
“I’m obviously humbled,” Elway said. “There have been a lot of great people who have won this award, and Pat was one of them, Peter Coors (2002) and Barry Hirschfeld (2015). The list of awardees before me was tremendous.”
Among the record crowd were members of the Bowlen family, including Annabel, Pat’s wife. Broncos head coach Vance Joseph and director of player personnel Matt Russell were also in attendance.
“I know they get pulled in a bunch of directions, but to have Annabel and the family here is a treat and very humbling for me. The fact that for the last 34 years they’ve given me the opportunity to be able to do what I do in football and the Broncos have given me that opportunity as well as the whole Bowlen family, I’m thrilled that they’re here,” Elway said. “… I’m blessed to be able to be a part of the Broncos organization and 34 years ago about now or a couple weeks ago, I wasn’t sure where I was going. I just knew I wasn’t going to Baltimore. Fortunately I ended up here in Denver.”
This week the Broncos began their organized team activities, with quarterbacks Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch again battling for the starting job. While the installment of the new offense, under coordinator Mike McCoy, is in the early phases, Elway said the play of the two quarterbacks has been “very encouraging.”
But a leader in the race?
“There’s no lead,” Elway said. “We’re going to keep throwing it out there, and they’re going to keep playing and we have a long time to go until we finally get to that opener in September. Vance and the staff will pick the right guy. But, they’re all going to work. We’re very fortunate in the fact that we have two young quarterbacks that can really play. So, I’m excited about that.”
