Authorities call incident leading to death of John Elway’s friend Jeff Sperbeck “horrific accident”

The incident last Saturday in which John Elway’s close friend, agent and longtime business partner Jeff Sperbeck suffered fatal injuries is now being called a “horrific accident” by the sheriff of Riverside County, Calif., the jurisdiction in which it occurred.

“This appears to be a horrific accident,” sheriff Chad Bianco told The Denver Post.

“And unfortunately for all of those involved, one of the people — well, a couple of them — happen to be very high-profile celebrities. And that makes this more of an issue than it probably should be.”

Bianco’s office concluded a preliminary inquiry into the incident late this week.

The sheriff added that there is “nothing that we have found” that would lead to potential charges at this time.

Bianco added that medical personnel who responded at the scene saw nothing to indicate Elway, who was driving the golf cart, was under the influence of alcohol.

Sperbeck was kept on life support until Wednesday, when he died at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif. at the age of 62. His friendship and business relationship with Elway dated back to the early 1990s.

Broncos Trade Idea Lands 2,528-Yard Running Back for Day-Three Pick

After the NFL draft, the Denver Broncos could still use another running back. On paper, the final thing for the Broncos to accomplish is adding a decent running back to a below-average room.

There will be multiple potential candidates over the next few months, and some have suggested that Kenneth Walker of the Seattle Seahawks might be one of them.

Walker, who hasn’t necessarily been great during his NFL career, has shown signs of being above average. The issue, however, is that he’s coming off a 573-yard showing on 153 attempts, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry.

Searching for potential trade candidates around the league, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay named him one of the players who should be traded after the draft. While he isn’t the perfect option, he makes sense for the Broncos.

“The Seattle Seahawks have a surprising amount of running back depth going into the 2025 season. They could capitalize on this situation and help bring some clarity to their backfield by shipping off incumbent starter Kenneth Walker III this offseason…

“Despite the regression, there’s still reason to believe Walker’s best years are ahead of him. He’s been dealing with injuries that limited him to just 11 games last year and could improve with a clean bill of health. He’s gotten more involved in the passing game over the years too, culminating in a career-best 46-catch, 299-yard, one-touchdown stat line in 2024,” he wrote.

Depending on what the Broncos would have to give up, which shouldn’t be more than a day-three pick, there’s reason to believe he could fit in Sean Payton’s offense.

Even if he’s used as a short situation back, he’d be better than the Broncos currently have.