TL;DR:
Despite Ian Cunningham being named General Manager of the Atlanta Falcons, the Chicago Bears were denied the two third-round compensatory picks typically awarded for developing minority executives into high-level roles. Falcons president Matt Ryan confirmed that Cunningham functions fully as a GM, yet the NFL’s refusal to grant the picks remains unexplained. Some speculate the league is quietly tightening its criteria to avoid legal challenges against its diversity initiatives, such as the Rooney Rule, following recent scrutiny from state officials. This shift suggests that the presence of an executive, like Ryan, positioned between the GM and the owner may now disqualify teams from receiving these specific draft rewards.

36 comments

  5. We should all dress up as the Super Fans and protest in front of Goodell’s office.

    Form a circle around the food trucks just to fuck with them.

  6. I will take this to my grave and Goddell better hope he never meets me in person.

  11. While I think it sucks, I don’t get the confusion or conspiracy theories. Each team has a designated primary football executive, and that is the role the pick compensation applies to.

  12. I still don’t understand why the NFL was so hellbent on not giving us comp picks? Like, did we sleep with their wife or something?

  13. Let’s keep constantly discussing it. Maybe if everyone in the world starts a thread on reddit about it we can cause real change in an unfair system.

  16. the reason is completely explained.  We may disagree with their judgment, but it isn’t mysterious in any way 

  18. We deserve those picks. Its BS and the Bears should file a suit against the NFL for not acknowledging the Rooney rule.

  19. At least we all got to appreciate how cool Matty Ice is! Sucks we didn’t get the picks but then the best

  20. Sorry but why does this sub keep saying the picks are “unexplained” when it’s been very clearly explained numerous times? Ian is not the Primary Football Executive for the Falcons. This is not a subjective title, it’s an official one which every team has assigned to a specific person in the organization. There’s no question that Matt Ryan is the Primary Football Executive as outlined by the rules of the league. This means the Falcons could not block Ian from interviewing for PFE roles and it will likely give him a lot of leverage over the team in negotiations.

    You can argue this structure is stupid, or unfair, but its not unexplained.

  24. give them to us this year then change the roles. why the hell would they not change the rules before? that makes no sense and means that they broke their own rules.

  25. If this is their way of quietly changing the rules, they are Streisanding TF out of it.

  26. think its time to move on yall. yes it was b.s. and everyone knows it. league already made decision and continuing to talk about it isn’t gonna change anything. let’s spend mental energy on stuff that we can control.

  27. I believe the Packers have incriminating pics on Goddell. No other explanation. Goddell has a socks and sandals habit.

  28. I’ll never understand this. The NFL has nothing to lose but quite a bit of good will to gain by giving the Bears these comp picks. And the Falcons organization keeps expressing that the Bears should in fact get the picks. I just want an NFL rep to get grilled about this and be forced to give awkward reasons as to why this happened.

  30. When it’s time to replace Poles bears should just go full meme and name Mitch Trubisky as team president and hire a black GM just to spit back at the NFL

  31. Part of me wishes that Poles blocked Cunningham, so that he could sue the shit out of the league for racism.

  34. Atlanta asked the Bears for permission to interview IC, signalling “this is a lateral move”. 
    The Bears gave permission signalling “we accept this is a lateral move”. 

    Comp Picks were never on the table. 

  35. They are trying to cover their tracks now because they clearly violated the Rooney rule

  36. The NFL is shooting itself in the foot by having a rule like the Rooney rule, and then not standing up and actually living up to the letter of the law

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