“it is hard to know from his (Papias) statement if he is calling the companions of the apostles the elders or if the elders were those who knew the companions.” 

I’m trying to understand what you mean by this last option… When you say, “or if the elders were those who knew the companions”, would this mean in other words, “or if there was a group of people between the apostles and the elders that were the companions of the apostles”? If that is what you are saying, what evidence at all in Papias would you be referring to that would make you think this? It seems obvious to me that the elders are the senior Christian teachers in Asia who were probably born around 20-40 AD, whose lives overlapped the apostles. And that Papias interviewed people who had heard these elders. Your quote from your book is confusing. 

Would you mind helping me out with this? Thank you very much, sir!