ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If the Broncos were going to add a running back, it almost certainly wasn’t going to come via the waiver wire — at least not right now. Such is the price of having the league’s best record and sitting 32nd on the waiver-claim priority list.
So, it was an upset that they managed to nab second-year veteran Cody Schrader, waived by the Houston Texans.
By Wednesday morning, the Mizzou product was set up in his new Broncos surroundings, diving into the playbook of his fifth NFL team in 16 months.
Schrader’s path since the San Francisco 49ers signed him as an undrafted free agent took him from the 49ers to the Los Angeles Rams, then on to the Jacksonville Jaguars before his recent stop in Houston. All had something in common: They’re part of the Shanahan-McVay network, with former Mike Shanahan lieutenants Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay guiding the 49ers and Rams, respectively, and their former assistants DeMeco Ryans and Liam Coen now coaching the Texans and Jaguars, respectively.
Each club operates a bit differently. Now Schrader steps into a different philosophy with a new nomenclature. But his past experience at adjusting to new environments should serve him well.
“Yeah, that’s probably the most challenging part, right? ‘Cause there’s a lot of stuff that I have is muscle memory that I’ve learned, and it’s all really very similar, and a lot of the stuff is the same,” Schrader said while sitting in the Broncos’ locker room Wednesday.
“It’s just different terms, different stuff, so, it just takes a lot of studying.”
That said, he doesn’t have the advantage his teammates possess of months in the scheme. So, he knows what he needs to prioritize.
“I think at this point, I’ve really learned that you just need to learn the meat and potatoes, and then study game plans, study the stuff that is going to be run during the game,” Schrader said.
“Because not everything you learn in training camp gets carried over to game plan, specific stuff.”
It also helps that he’s become a more intelligent player because of his experience in the Shanahan-McVay orbit.
“I’ve gained a lot of knowledge. I got to be in Shanahan’s system, McVay’s and Liam’s [systems] and learn a ton of football, a ton of different stuff on details,” he said.
And as he dives headlong into his crash-course study of Professor Payton’s Broncos coursework, there are no distractions. When you get claimed and land in a new city, your existence is simple: hotel, team facility, and the transit back and forth.
“My focus isn’t anywhere else,” Schrader said. “I’m focused on just learning the playbook, learning the game plan, studying my butt off, and if I get an opportunity, take advantage of it.”
Such opportunities have been scarce so far for Schrader. He has yet to get a chance to truly show his skills when it counts; to date, he has three touches to his name: two in the Rams’ regular-season finale last January and one on a kickoff return in their divisional-round defeat at Philadelphia a fortnight later.
In this year’s preseason for the Rams, he accumulated 153 yards from scrimmage and averaged 4.4 yards per carry; that marked improved form from his rookie preseason with the 49ers, when he gained 56 yards of total offense and averaged 2.7 yards per attempt. Progress was palpable, even though regular-season chances continued to elude him.
Of course, his fellow Mizzou product who is now a current teammate serves as an example of how persistence can pay dividends. It took Tyler Badie three seasons to earn a spot on the 53-player roster and work his way out of rookie minicamp, and it wasn’t until his fourth year until he finally avoided cuts coming out of training camp.
And Schrader knows all about chipping away with the rock hammer until you create your path. After all, his magnificent 2023 senior season at Mizzou — when he finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting and piled up 1,818 yards from scrimmage — came after he landed in Columbia as a walk-on following four seasons at Division II Truman State University.
IS THERE SOMETHING TO BE MADE OF THE BRONCOS ADDING SCHRADER BEFORE FACING THE JAGUARS?
Broncos coach Sean Payton insists that there isn’t.
“I know there was a lot read into that. Trust me, that was the furthest thing from our mind,” Payton said. “It was more about this stretch run, making sure we’re healthy and we have depth there.”
And even though Schrader’s presence certainly adds some competition to the Broncos’ backfield, his new teammates proved eager to get him acclimated.
“Everyone’s helping me out, especially in the running-back room. It’s cool,” Schrader said. “… They’re helping me learn, kind of get me up to speed. Especially [Michael] Burton, Adam [Prentice], those guys, you know, Tyler Badie, all those guys, man, they’ve been really helpful so far and just kind of helping me get up to speed.
“I’m asking a bunch of questions. They’re not hiding any information or nothing like that. They’re open, and that’s really cool to me.”
It comes as no surprise given the culture that the Broncos have built. Sure, Schrader could push the running backs in the room, and with Badie, RJ Harvey and Jaleel McLaughlin averaging a combined 3.5 yards per carry since J.K. Dobbins suffered a Lisfranc injury, an extra competitive nudge probably couldn’t hurt.
Schrader might make the Broncos better. He’s untapped enough to have upside; he’s 26, but he was a late bloomer in college after transferring from Truman State and walking on at Mizzou, so there’s the possibility of a similar blossoming in the NFL.
And as Broncos general manager George Paton likes to point out, the process of team building is a 365-days-a-year endeavor. Not even two weeks before Christmas, he found another running back in his stocking.
