Expert scout leaving Saints to take a senior front office position with the Broncos, according to a source.
During the first press conference at the team’s Englewood, Colorado, headquarters on Monday, February 6, 2023, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton shakes hands with general manager George Paton. Cody Rager spent seven years scouting players for the franchise. (Image courtesy of The Denver Post/AAron Ontiveroz)
The Broncos are adding an experienced scout to a key position in their front office.
Denver is hiring New Orleans assistant director of college scouting Cody Rager to a newly created vice president of player personnel position, a source confirmed Monday to The Post.
Rager spent the better part of a decade working his way up through the Saints’ scouting department under assistant general manager Jeff Ireland and general manager Mickey Loomis. That, of course, means Rager spent seven years scouting players for a Sean Payton-coached team.
In Denver, Rager will report to general manager George Paton, who runs the Broncos’ personnel department. Paton and Payton have touted their working relationship since Payton was hired a year ago and Paton has said consistently that the Broncos coach makes it easy to understand what he looks for in players.
“Sean sits in all of our meetings. He sounds like a scout, and he’s been around a lot of really good people throughout his career,” Paton said last spring before the 2023 NFL Draft. “He reminds me of (Nick) Saban just sitting in meetings. The two years I was with Coach Saban, they have a similar vision of how they want to build the football team. They have a clear vision on how they want to build the team.
“I’m aligned with Sean on that.”
The arrival of Rager, who has a lengthy relationship with Payton, will bring fresh views to the table.
Rager, a native of Alabama, worked for three years as an associate director of college scouting after serving as a national scout. Additionally, he worked for Miami from 2012 to 2013, during which time Ireland served as general manager. He has had internships at universities like the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama.
At a pivotal point in the scouting cycle, he is now taking on a senior role in the Broncos front office. Denver will be well-represented in this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, having sent scouts to the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas, over the past several days.
The NFL Scouting Combine then starts in four weeks, and as free agency (mid-March) and the draft (April 25–27) approach, pro days across the nation get really exciting.
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