[Jonathan Jones] The Bears won’t receive compensatory picks for the Falcons hiring Ian Cunningham
January 30, 2026
[Jonathan Jones] The Bears won’t receive compensatory picks for the Falcons hiring Ian Cunningham
25 comments
What a load of BS
“Matt Ryan is the executive chancellor presidential king or football operations. Ian is just the General Manager who does Matt’s laundry.”
BOOOOOO
Seems like some weird corpo rule breaking. So they have a weird structure and we get punished?
“The general manager role in Atlanta is like most other GM gigs across the league with one exception: this job is not what the league office considers the “primary football executive” position. Cunningham is considered a secondary football executive who reports to Ryan, the PFE as designated by the team and league office.
It is due to this structure that the Bears will not receive compensatory picks for losing Cunningham, a Black man. Beginning in 2021, the league began awarding two third-round picks to teams who developed minority talent that ultimately took head coach or GM roles. But multiple sources have confirmed to CBS Sports that the Bears will not get those picks, and the team has known that for some amount of time.”
Bears should appeal. Promotion’s a promotion, even if Matt is a shadow leader or whatever.
they can’t even meet in the middle with one pick, tsk.
So a white guy being hired to oversee a Black GM means no picks meant to incentivize minority hires? Fucking dumb.
If Ian Cunningham isn’t needed to make football decisions then why did Stefanski say “We have to wait to hire a before deciding on the QB”?
Bears should’ve promoted Poles to the same title that matt ryan has.
Here’s what I’ve gathered:
Can’t block interviews because of the Rooney Rule and because it’s a promotion
Although it’s a promotion Ian doesn’t have final say over roster, draft decisions, contracts etc. Matt Ryan does.
He’s not the primary football executive. GM title isn’t not enough, he needs to have authority over the organization.
No comp picks.
Correct me in the comments if I’m wrong. Hope this helps.
Edit: Grammar**
Im glad for Ian, truly. And I fully believe that this was known internally, but Poles wouldn’t block it whether or nkt he could bc Ryan is a personal friend and Cunningham was his trust guy; it makes a ton of sense. And let me be crystal clear here: I do not think the Bears or Falcons did anything wrong here.
But no compensatory 3rd here is utter horse shit of the highest order bc of some “viewing” of the role. QB coach to OC is a promotion even if it isnt as a playcaller; how is this different? Playcalling DC to HC without playcalling is still a promotion, how is this different? Horse shit.
Only the Bears would lose two minorities in Cunningham and Bienemy and not get any comp picks lol
Fire Nagy.
Not allowing us to have our 3rd round picks is racist!!!!
Matt Ryan has been sat in a studio for the past 3 years and has no prior executive or scouting. Cunningham is going to be running that team and everyone knows that. Monarchy ass bullshit
Bears should’ve blocked it if it’s considered a lateral move to a conference opponent. Infuriating.
The thing that drives me mad is the Falcons paid a consulting company to rework their structure who said ‘go get a Chris Spielman’ type of guy to help the owner out. So they hired Matt Ryan for that job.
Guess what happened when the Lions hired a black GM in Brad Holmes to work under Spielman – the Rams got compo picks.
The Falcons org structure seems to be the only difference, not the practical operation of how the job will function.
wtf. How do the Niners get comp picks all the time, yet Bears lose Ian and get zip.
It wouldn’t even really “cost” a team anything to give the Bears the picks right? Seems to go against the spirit of the whole initiative.
Type of shit that happens to the Bears man. Go figure.
Thankfully we have Ben to reign in Poles as Ian did in the past. Not gonna lose sleep on this!
Utter and complete bullshit.
This is how lawsuits happen.
What a load of BS.
Great job, NFL. Make a rule promoting development of minority candidates for executive roles, then promptly NOT reward the team for said development because a white former player with no experience got given a title where he himself AND THE OWNER said wouldn’t be doing GM duties. Bravo, take a bow.
25 comments
What a load of BS
“Matt Ryan is the executive chancellor presidential king or football operations. Ian is just the General Manager who does Matt’s laundry.”
BOOOOOO
Seems like some weird corpo rule breaking. So they have a weird structure and we get punished?
“The general manager role in Atlanta is like most other GM gigs across the league with one exception: this job is not what the league office considers the “primary football executive” position. Cunningham is considered a secondary football executive who reports to Ryan, the PFE as designated by the team and league office.
It is due to this structure that the Bears will not receive compensatory picks for losing Cunningham, a Black man. Beginning in 2021, the league began awarding two third-round picks to teams who developed minority talent that ultimately took head coach or GM roles. But multiple sources have confirmed to CBS Sports that the Bears will not get those picks, and the team has known that for some amount of time.”
Bears should appeal. Promotion’s a promotion, even if Matt is a shadow leader or whatever.
they can’t even meet in the middle with one pick, tsk.
So a white guy being hired to oversee a Black GM means no picks meant to incentivize minority hires? Fucking dumb.
If Ian Cunningham isn’t needed to make football decisions then why did Stefanski say “We have to wait to hire a before deciding on the QB”?
Bears should’ve promoted Poles to the same title that matt ryan has.
Here’s what I’ve gathered:
Can’t block interviews because of the Rooney Rule and because it’s a promotion
Although it’s a promotion Ian doesn’t have final say over roster, draft decisions, contracts etc. Matt Ryan does.
He’s not the primary football executive. GM title isn’t not enough, he needs to have authority over the organization.
No comp picks.
Correct me in the comments if I’m wrong. Hope this helps.
Edit: Grammar**
Im glad for Ian, truly. And I fully believe that this was known internally, but Poles wouldn’t block it whether or nkt he could bc Ryan is a personal friend and Cunningham was his trust guy; it makes a ton of sense. And let me be crystal clear here: I do not think the Bears or Falcons did anything wrong here.
But no compensatory 3rd here is utter horse shit of the highest order bc of some “viewing” of the role. QB coach to OC is a promotion even if it isnt as a playcaller; how is this different? Playcalling DC to HC without playcalling is still a promotion, how is this different? Horse shit.
Only the Bears would lose two minorities in Cunningham and Bienemy and not get any comp picks lol
Fire Nagy.
Not allowing us to have our 3rd round picks is racist!!!!
Matt Ryan has been sat in a studio for the past 3 years and has no prior executive or scouting. Cunningham is going to be running that team and everyone knows that. Monarchy ass bullshit
Bears should’ve blocked it if it’s considered a lateral move to a conference opponent. Infuriating.
The thing that drives me mad is the Falcons paid a consulting company to rework their structure who said ‘go get a Chris Spielman’ type of guy to help the owner out. So they hired Matt Ryan for that job.
Guess what happened when the Lions hired a black GM in Brad Holmes to work under Spielman – the Rams got compo picks.
The Falcons org structure seems to be the only difference, not the practical operation of how the job will function.
wtf. How do the Niners get comp picks all the time, yet Bears lose Ian and get zip.
It wouldn’t even really “cost” a team anything to give the Bears the picks right? Seems to go against the spirit of the whole initiative.
Type of shit that happens to the Bears man. Go figure.
Thankfully we have Ben to reign in Poles as Ian did in the past. Not gonna lose sleep on this!
Utter and complete bullshit.
This is how lawsuits happen.
What a load of BS.
Great job, NFL. Make a rule promoting development of minority candidates for executive roles, then promptly NOT reward the team for said development because a white former player with no experience got given a title where he himself AND THE OWNER said wouldn’t be doing GM duties. Bravo, take a bow.
This is such a Bears kick in the balls