Bear Digest

The Bears Reportedly Get Shafted After Losing Ian Cunningham to Atlanta Falcons

The Bears not receiving draft compensation for the Ian Cunningham hire is a downright travesty.
Jerry Markarian|
Mar 16, 2023; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles speaks during a press conference at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Mar 16, 2023; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles speaks during a press conference at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears' assistant general manager Ian Cunningham has left the building. He accepted a position to become the Falcons' next general manager after a second round of interviews today.

Assistant general manager to a general manager. Good for him for landing a promotion. That's what that is, right?

Well, according to the NFL, it's not that simple.

Yes, he's the lone general manager in title, but he's technically still second-in-command to Matt Ryan, who was hired as the Falcons team president earlier this month. Why does that matter? Because that technicality is going to cost the Bears two third-round draft picks via the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule was established to bring more minorities into NFL front offices and land head coach jobs. From a front office perspective, it was created to award teams for developing personnel in a landscape dominated by old, white guys.

Ian Cunningham has been one of the league's most respected figures for quite some time. He's been on Albert Breer's future GM list for the past three years. That was for good reason, too, as he was a finalist for the Cardinals GM job two years ago and the Commanders and Titans jobs last offseason. He would've been the "head decision maker" for each of those opportunities... but not for the Falcons job that he accepted due to their weird power structure. Make it make sense.

It's a decision that I fully expect the Bears to appeal, but I'm honestly not sure if they will win it. The league office plays by its own set of rules.

Now, I know this article will come off as sour grapes. I do not care. The Bears lost out on two third-round picks today due to a technicality. That's the exact trade compensation that they traded for a 28-year-old, three-time Pro Bowl receiver in Brandon Marshall in 2012. It's a significant haul.

Some have argued that the Bears should block Cunningham from signing with Atlanta due to the technicality. They called Poles a pushover for bowing down to his college roommate and friend, Matt Ryan. That's the wrong mindset, though. It would be a disservice to Cunningham, with whom he has worked closely over the past four years, to block him from taking a job that he wanted just because the Bears wouldn't get draft compensation. It would be wrong to hold him prisoner over that, regardless of Poles' relationship with Matt Ryan.

I don't know about you, but I think the Falcons' job looks 100x better than the other opportunities he was vying for. Their QB position might be a mess (although he might've done his homework on Michael Penix Jr., who was Rome Odunze's QB in 2022 and 2023), but they're otherwise stacked with young talent. They had one of the most impressive hauls in the 2025 NFL Draft and have a wealth of young talent on both sides of the ball.

If there's any bright side to this situation, it's that fans won't have to endure two more depressing third-round selections. They won't have to hear training camp hype of the Velus Jones Jr., Kyran Amagadjie, and Zacch Pickens of the world, only to become brutally disappointed when they fall well short of expectations.

Ryan Poles couldn't hit on a third-round pick if he were gifted 40 Rooney Rule draft selections. Regardless, I really wish they got a chance to try. The fact that they won't as a result of this silly technicality is a downright sham.

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Jerry Markarian
JERRY MARKARIAN

Jerry Markarian has been an avid Chicago Bears fan since 2010 and has been writing about the team since 2022. He has survived the 2010 NFC Championship Game, a career-ending injury to his favorite player (Johnny Knox), the Bears' 2013 season finale, a Double Doink, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields, and Weeks 8-17 of the 2024 NFL season. Nevertheless, he still Bears Down!

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