Broncos Promote Darren Mougey to Assistant General Manager

The Denver Broncos are undergoing a sea change as general manager George Paton reshapes the club in his image. After being saddled with a lame-duck Vic Fangio coaching staff in Year 1 as GM, Paton has quickly exorcised that demon in order for Denver to start anew.

One front-office guy who'll continue to help Paton rebuild the Broncos is Darren Mougey. On Thursday, the team announced that Mougey has been promoted from director of player personnel to assistant general manager.

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It's unlikely that Mougey's day-to-day duties will change all that much. He'll continue to oversee operations of Denver's pro and college scouting departments while working directly with the GM on all personnel and college scouting matters.

Looking back on Paton's tenure with the Minnesota Vikings as then-GM Rick Spielman's No. 2, Mougey now takes over that role under Paton in the Mile High City.

Who is Mougey?

A long-time scout, Mougey is actually entering his 11th season with the Broncos. Formerly the club's western regional scout for three years, he was promoted under former GM John Elway to assistant director of college scouting in 2020.

Mougey was a part of the scouting department that built Denver's Super Bowl 50 championship roster. He got a ring.

For scouts around the NFL, it's cool to see Mougey rise from being a scouting intern, for which he was hired back in 2012 by the Broncos, to now being assistant GM. It shows that the Broncos are a team that offers upward mobility to the staffers that go out and earn it.

The NFL is the ultimate meritocracy. If Paton viewed Mougey as deserving of the assistant GM title, you can take it to the bank that the guy earned it.

Mougey was one of five people on Paton's head-coach hiring committee and a prominent voice, no doubt, in Nathaniel Hackett landing in Denver. A former NFL wide receiver hailing from San Diego State, the 36-year-old went way back with Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell, which led to a lot of analysts predicting that's who the Broncos would hire as head coach.

Instead, the decision was Hackett which could be a reflection on Mougey as an objective advisor to Paton. What an asset.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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