The Falcons’ decision to hire Ian Cunningham as their new general manager led to an initial decision by the NFL not to award compensatory draft picks to the Bears. Standard practice in recent years for minority hires has been for their previous employer to receive a third-round selection in two consecutive years.
The league’s stance in this case was that Cunningham will hold the GM title but will not operate as Atlanta’s top decision-maker in the front office. Indeed, Matt Ryan will serve as the team’s president of football and in doing so will outrank Cunningham and the rest of the Falcons’ management team. The Bears reached out to the NFL to discuss the mater further, but a reversal will not be forthcoming.
“The matter is now closed following the club’s appeal,” a league statement reads (h/t Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune). “The NFL informed the Bears today they will not receive compensatory picks. The policy is designed to provide picks for the Primary Football Executive position. The League determined Mr. Cunningham did not fill that role with the Falcons as it is defined in League rules.”
Ryan’s return to Atlanta brought with it questions about his ability to oversee the wide-ranging changes brought on during the 2026 hiring cycle due to his lack of expereince. Cunningham and new head coach Kevin Stefanski are now in the fold, and they will look to bring about improved play relative to the Raheem Morris/Terry Fontenot tandem. Cunningham’s first NFL general manager opportunity will come about with his hometown team.
The Bears will again be led in the front office by general manager Ryan Poles for 2026. Following Cunningham’s departure, Jeff King was promoted to the role of assistant GM. Those two and the rest of Chicago’s staff will move forward knowing no compensation will be coming the team’s way. The Bears currently own seven picks in April’s draft.
So if you do not want your competition to benefit, just make sure you always have a white guy in charge. #RooneyRule
Going from assistant GM to GM is an obvious promotion. Why the league is picking this hill to die on is beyond me. The rule is questionable anyway, but this decision clearly goes against the spirit of why it was implemented in the first place.
Waiting for a team to not call them a head coach but a figure head so the other team doesn’t get comp picks.
The hilarious part is the Falcons themselves say the Bears deserve the picks.
picks don’t come from the falcons, so pretty easy for them to say they deserve it -which they do
That’s true. But the Falcons’ Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham still did the Bears a solid by addressing and communicating their structure.
Some teams are not likely offer an opposing team any help on the potential to improve. They had every right to simply stand down.
If the Bears wanted to be really petty could they say that since it wasn’t apparently an advancement then we rescind our agreement to let him interview? I doubt they want to do that to Cunningham or the Falcons because of Goodell being the petty POS that he is. When Johnson was hired he basically took over Cunningham’s job which was to help Poles with the draft and Player acquisitions. That was the main reason Cunningham knew it was time to go anyway. The Bears have so many grounds to sue the NFL you wonder why they are sticking to this stupid decision when it would cost them absolutely NOTHING to let it happen. Doesn’t cost the NFL anything, Doesn’t cost the Falcons anything but like Goodell makes absolutely no sense ever. It’s appalling to me and not just because it’s the Bears. I would say the same thing if it was the Packers. It’s stupidity at it’s finest. If you want anything from the NFL you have to make them see that it will cost them big money. They don’t like that.
Agree. I feel the same way. It doesn’t matter which team. GB, KC, Dallas, whoever. And hopefully it shouldn’t for all real fans regardless of rivalries or personal feelings. This is the game most of us enjoy.
The Bears have been screwed not even with a small peck on the cheek.
If Chicago hosts another draft I would suggest that Goodell not show up for his own health.
The real hilarious part is they found out yesterday that statement came from Ian Cunningham himself
Sue
BS NFL, that is NOT what the policy that YOU created says. It says grooming a minority who is hired by another team as GM or Team President results in draft compensation. You can’t change the policy while the written policy hasn’t been changed. What BS.
As an NFL fan the Bears deserve the picks. Bad decision by the NFL. The NFL decision makers treat incompetence and stupidity as if they are virtues
Ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as offering draft compensation for race based hiring practices.
It’s all nonsense lol money is all they care about
DaBears were🔩
This is such an insane ruling. It’s fun when a company shows their ass without realizing it.
The whole system is ridiculous, but 100% on this being a weird thing for the NFL to be particular about.
When you have people who disagree about the rule itself all saying that this decision is idiotic, that might be an indicator that the decision is idiotic.
Came here to say the same thing. This ruling is awful and should effectively end the rule itself.
Sad the Falcons got tangled up in this. Almost all other teams have President of football operations that ultimately call the shots. So either the Falcons are the first that hired a minority as a GM (doubtful), or no other team raised a stink about it like the Bears are doing. It could be the third, where the NFL had a previously awarded picks for the same setup but this time they weren’t, but I have not see any indication of that being the case.
#1 would mean, good for the Falcons for hiring a minority at a top position, but oh yeah, let’s let the Bears and media put you down for this even though you have nothing to do with it. It’s apparently working, as the very first comment on this article was basically making it out like the Falcons purposely did something to prevent another team from getting picks. Pfft.
#2 (which is what it really is), should cause the Bears to get all sorts of negative publicity. It was well known from the get go that the Falcons were interviewing him for both positions, not just the top position. Bears knew this and gave permission. So either the Bears didn’t understand the rule, or just wanted to try to play up to the woke liberal media and get some free picks out of it. The problem with this rule is that one team alone typically doesn’t ‘groom’ candidates for the top position. A candidate will typically work for several organizations as they move up the ladder. Why does this rule only reward the team before the top spot achievement? Regardless, I personally think the Bears look either greedy or ignorant, depending on your personal take.
#3 should be instant lawsuit if they have allowed for this in the past and didn’t this time. Only way they could win is if they informed all teams and the NFLPA that the past was being generous and not written into the rule, and they were going to enforce it as written going forward. They could win on that, but would still look bad.
But hey, while we are at it, when is the NFL going to enforce that all teams have at least 57.8% non-Hispanic white players, 18.7 Hispanic, and 5.9% Asian or they get penalized? I mean, if we are going to make rules based specifically about race, should we not focus on all, and not just one? Guess woke stuff only works for one race and one gender. And yes, what I just said is ridiculous, but so is the Rooney Rule.
Why do you think it’s #2? It’s definitely #3. KC got comp picks ironically for the Bears hiring Ryan Poles for their GM spot in 2022. And there have been others as well if you did a little research you’ll find them.
The Bears did know and understand the rule. They knew that there was some chance that the picks might not be there. It wasn’t concrete, but they knew. So really, the Bears had two options: either let Ian Cunningham interview, get the job he deserves and in the process get some picks per the spirit of the Rooney Rule (which is now a joke at this point), or not let him interview and and look negative in the media. As for your whole “grooming” of candidates, if a team what’s someone to stay, they will make it happen.
I’m sorry, you automatically invalidate anything you say dropping the “woke, liberal” BS you were spewing in #2.
Progress is a beast lmao
Florida’s AG is right (google): As of April 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has threatened legal action against the NFL, arguing that the league’s “Rooney Rule” is racist and illegal under Florida law.
So could the Bears have blocked the interview since it technically wasn’t a promotion apparently? This makes no sense.
That is actually a very fair point. I bet the NFL would have to say yes, but it’s too late now.
Actually, they’d probably say that they couldn’t but that this rule does not apply to the position for which Cunningham was hired, but hey.
Well, according to the Trib, they could’ve blocked him for the same reason the league is not allowing the draft pick compensation- That because of the job titles, it’s a lateral move.
What a weird hill to die on lmao.
Over a third round pick towards end of the round before the 4th no less
Definitely confirms the Rooney Rule is this generations 3/5 compromise
Good. The policy sucks.
That is does Bearmeat. No doubt the policy is poor. But the salient point here is that a team, no matter who, in a situation like the Bears deserve draft compensation. Even individuals who possess low IQ’s can hopefully understand that.
First off, I don’t think this is a good rule regardless.
In all honesty, the definition of job roles are different team-by-team.
Too many factors to make this a viable rule.
I don’t want to be compensated with round three draft picks…I just want to be served free draft 🍺
So now you don’t get compensation for following the rule. So there’s no point to following it. Never hire a “minority” and just hire whoever you want. Waste as much time as possible interviewing “minority” options, but never hire them, because you don’t have to.
This rule is so stupid and inept.
Such BS
Could the Bears have blocked the interview or him taking the job? If no then they should get the picks.
Also, I think it’s kind of telling that nowhere on the ESPN page is this being covered. It clearly shows their bias.
NFL providing a nice little road map for teams to circumvent the Rooney Rule
The more I see what Goodell is doing to the NFL, the more I can’t stand this guy and think he needs to go.
People forget the niners getting compensation because they hired a lot more minorities then most franchises in the league and there promotions led to the niners gaining draft comp as a threat to other owners they went on a rant about this 2-3 offseasons ago looks like it’s in full affect now smh
Goodell’s ego & NFL are an absolute joke!