Broncos icon John Elway will be honorary captain for AFC Title Game

John Elway will be at the AFC Championship Game on Sunday between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots.

It doesn’t get any bigger than this.

Elway, the Duke of Denver, will be the team’s honorary captain at Empower Field at Mile High. He knows a thing or two about going to the Super Bowl.

The Duke is our Honorary Captain for the AFC Championship Game. 🐐@johnelway x #ClimbHigher pic.twitter.com/SlidZZUH1L

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) January 23, 2026

Certainly, the crowd will explode when John Elway is introduced in any capacity, likely during the coin-toss or in some other pregame moment. Champ Bailey is the “Alumni Flag Planter,” so the Broncos are bringing back all the greats.

Elway won two Super Bowls as the team’s legendary QB, a playing career that spanned from 1983-1998. He was Denver’s GM from 2011-2020, guiding them to yet another championship in Super Bowl 50. He was the president of football operations in 2021 and then a consultant in 2022 before stepping away from any official working role.

He also won seven AFC Championship Games between his time as a player and GM, so the Broncos hope he plays a part in an eighth this weekend. All-time, Elway has a 3-4 record in Super Bowls he was on the field or in management; Denver is 3-5 overall in the history of the franchise in the biggest game in sports.

John Elway famously recruited Peyton Manning at quarterback as GM, along with selecting Von Miller and building an all-time defense that helped Denver capture its third title. The second half of his tenure was tough, but that’s all a distant memory at this point.

The Broncos are back on track, going 14-3 during the 2025 regular season and earning the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. They took down the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round, an epic OT victory, but lost QB Bo Nix for the season. Jarrett Stidham will be the starting quarterback.

And while there’s a lot of pressure on Stidham, he and the Broncos seem to be handling it well. Having John Elway in the house to watch his fifth career start will make an already massive moment that much bigger.

Kickoff of the AFC Title Game is a little more than 48 hours away and can’t get here soon enough.

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