The Denver Broncos have had a lot of success within their own scouting and personnel department over the course of the last few seasons and have now added somebody familiar with Sean Payton to a front office role.

Denver Broncos add Cody Rager as team’s VP of Player Personnel

Cody Rager is joining the Denver Broncos front office as the team’s vice president of player personnel. The move was first reported by Saints beat reporter Nick Underhill on Monday morning.

Rager comes over to Denver after previously spending nine years with the New Orleans Saints, where he had roles as an area scout and national scout, and more recently served as the Saints assistant college scouting director.

His former experience and familiarity with head coach Sean Payton is obviously something to acknowledge here. One source that I spoke to directly about Rager told me, “It’s a pretty big loss for New Orleans. He was a big part of their scouting efforts. Spent time as a national and area scout as well, all with Sean [Payton]. So he knows exactly what [Payton] wants. He was also a big part of the Saints’ success in finding undrafted free agents.”

The Broncos themselves have consistently found success with undrafted rookie free agents, including Jaleel McLaughlin, Thomas Incoom, Alex Palczewski, and Nate Adkins, as several names from 2023. Other players on Denver’s roster who were undrafted are wide receiver Brandon Johnson, safety P.J. Locke, and cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian.

This is an addition to Denver’s personnel department, and there are no anticipated changes right now at any other positions. It’s important to note that this is a hire that both George Paton and Payton signed off on.

You’ll see speculation from fans on social media that this is a move that will replace Paton, but those assumptions are incorrect. Broncos CEO Greg Penner expressed his satisfaction with Paton and Payton’s working relationship last year.

“It’s been a year now, and I thought it worked really well, especially the partnership between Sean and George,” Penner said. “That relationship between head coach and GM is critical. I was impressed with the way that they handled going from free agency to the draft. It was great to see a number of young players that George and his staff had drafted previously step up and play key roles. I thought there was improvement this year, and I think George can help us build a winning roster here.”