NFL explains why Bears won't receive compensatory picks for Falcons hiring Ian Cunningham as GM

It’s official: The Chicago Bears won’t get any compensatory picks for losing former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham this offseason, the NFL announced Friday. The Atlanta Falcons hired Cunningham as their new GM, and the Bears argued that, as a result, they should have been rewarded comp picks due to Resolution JC-2A.

Under that policy, passed in 2020 to help promote diversity in the league, franchises that develop minority personnel into head coaches and GMs of other teams are to be compensated with third-round draft picks.

According to the NFL, though, Cunningham didn’t fit the criteria because of his current position with the Falcons, who ushered in a new leadership structure this year.

“The matter is now closed following the club’s appeal,” the league stated, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

“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.”

While Cunningham is the Falcons’ GM by title, and is carrying out the team’s GM duties, he’s technically under Matt Ryan in the team’s front office pecking order.

Ryan, Atlanta’s quarterback from 2008-21, was hired as the franchise’s president of football back in January. Following the firings of former GM Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris, Falcons owner Arthur Blank wrote a letter to the fan base. In it, he explained that he’d be hiring a president of football, who would "set the vision and identity for our team."

Ryan got the job, returning to a franchise that the one-time NFL MVP quarterback piloted to the Super Bowl during the 2016 season and to the playoffs a total of six times. He helped lead the head coaching and GM searches, which culminated in the hirings of Kevin Stefanski and Cunningham, respectively.

Cunningham spent four seasons with the Bears working under Chicago’s GM, Ryan Poles.

In the aftermath of Cunningham’s departure, the Bears were hoping to acquire a third-round compensatory pick in this year’s draft and another in the 2027 draft.

That’s the kind of compensation they believed they were entitled to under Resolution JC-2A. But since the NFL considers Ryan, not Cunningham, the Falcons’ primary football executive, the Bears aren’t able to reap the benefits of the policy.