Multiple NFL insiders have confirmed bad news for the Chicago Bears in the wake of Ian Cunningham departing to accept the Atlanta Falcons‘ GM job.
The Falcons officially announced they hired Cunningham as their next general manager on Thursday, January 29, bringing to an end their weekslong search under newly hired president of football Matt Ryan after interviewing Cunningham at least three times.
Under normal circumstances, Cunningham’s departure would result in a kickback for the Bears in the form of two third-round compensatory draft picks in each of the next two NFL drafts, per the guidelines about minority hiring laid out in the Rooney Rule.
According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin and several other NFL insiders — both within and outside the Chicago market — the Bears won’t receive picks for the hire, though.
“Per league rules, the Bears will not receive two compensatory third-round picks because Cunningham is not being hired by Atlanta as the primary football executive,” Cronin wrote Thursday on X in response to a fan question about the picks. “That position was filled by Matt Ryan.”
Cronin also added that eligibility for compensatory draft picks “isn’t something a team can appeal,” meaning the Bears have no recourse for the Falcons exploiting a loophole.
Bears Reporters Have Warned About Comp Pick Reality
Cronin was not the only reporter to chime in about the stark reality of the Bears missing out on two third-round compensatory picks following Cunningham’s hiring this week.
“Cunningham is considered a secondary football executive who reports to Ryan, the PFE [primary football executive] as designated by the team and league office,” CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones wrote on January 29. “It is due to this structure that the Bears will not receive compensatory picks for losing Cunningham, a Black man.”
Citing multiple league sources, Jones also wrote that the Bears have known “for some amount of time” that they would not receive compensatory draft picks if Cunningham accepted the Falcons’ GM job, which makes sense, given Ryan Poles’ involvement.
As The Athletic’s Dianni Russini disclosed earlier in January, Poles is close friends with Ryan from their time together as teammates at Boston College and has been helping him with “the entire hiring process” over the past several weeks. Even if Poles did not initially realize that losing Cunningham would not result in a compensatory payout, he was unlikely to block the hiring and obstruct two friends that he brought together.
Ian Cunningham Hire Seems to Defy Rooney Rule’s Intent
Fans have valid reasons to feel disappointed that the Bears won’t receive two additional third-round picks for Cunningham’s departure. After all, it seemed inevitable that they would after Cunningham received GM interest in each of the past three offseasons.
The real problem is not Cunningham taking the job or Poles not blocking the hiring, though. It is how easily the Falcons defied the Rooney Rule’s original intentions.
The Falcons might not have meant any ill intent with their front-office restructuring, but the facts of the matter are that they created a new decision-maker position in their front office weeks ago that they gift-wrapped for Ryan — a white man with no front-office experience — and then hired a black man in Cunningham for a GM position that they had effectively stripped of its usual decision-making power.
Now, this is still a promotion for Cunningham and could end up working out quite well for his career in the long run, especially if he and Ryan form a strong partnership. Even still, it feels gross that the Falcons exploited a loophole in a rule intended to empower minority coaches/executives and incentivize their promotion to decision-making roles.
Bad News Confirmed for Bears After Losing Ian Cunningham to Falcons