The Chicago Bears may soon receive valuable draft compensation after Ian Cunningham left Chicago for a front-office role with the Atlanta Falcons.
It’s been a bit of a roller coaster for the Chicago Bears ever since assistant general manager Ian Cunningham left the organization for a promotion opportunity with the Atlanta Falcons.
Cunningham has been one of the NFL’s rising front-office executives in recent years, regularly drawing interviews for general manager openings around the league. Up until now, he had always chosen to stay put with Ryan Poles, helping the Bears rebuild their roster and steadily move the franchise in the right direction.
After Chicago finally put everything together and enjoyed the fruits of its labor with an 11-win season in 2025, the writing was on the wall. Cunningham was going to get poached sooner rather than later.
And that may not have been an entirely bad thing for the Bears.
Under the NFL’s 2020 Diversity Incentive Policy, teams are awarded compensatory draft picks when a minority employee is hired away by another club to become either a general manager or head coach. If a minority executive leaves for a GM position elsewhere, the team losing that executive receives two third-round compensatory draft picks in consecutive years.
The picks are awarded at the end of the third round in each of those drafts.
The rule was designed to encourage teams to develop minority coaching and front-office talent by rewarding organizations that help produce future leaders across the league.
The assumption after Cunningham left Chicago was that the Bears would be compensated with those draft picks. And then, somehow, things swung the other direction.
Because Cunningham is "technically" second in command underneath Falcons president of football Matt Ryan, his move created a bit of a gray area within the league’s policy.
Initial reports indicated that the Bears would not be receiving draft pick compensation because Cunningham was not taking over as Atlanta’s primary football executive. The NFL initially viewed the move as a lateral position, rather than a true promotion.
But that explanation never made much sense.
If the move was lateral, why was Cunningham allowed to leave in the first place? Teams are normally allowed to block lateral front-office moves. The only reason the Bears couldn’t stop it was because the position represented a clear promotion — not that they necessarily would have stepped in anyways.
So why does the presence of Matt Ryan only matter when it comes to reimbursing the Bears for their loss?
From Chicago’s perspective, it looked like the Bears were getting robbed.
That became even more apparent when Falcons leadership spoke publicly about Cunningham’s role. Both Ryan and Atlanta officials indicated that Cunningham would have roster control and final say over personnel decisions.
In other words, he may not technically hold the top title in the building, but the responsibilities sure sound like those of a general manager.
He’s a GM by title, and he carries the same authority as one. Yet somehow that initially wasn’t enough for the NFL.
The Bears could the still get compensation picks
Draft pick compensation resurfaced as a possibility during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Ryan Poles spoke with the media and, naturally, advocated for the Bears to receive the picks that the rule appears to promise. Poles acknowledged having mixed feelings about the policy in general, but made it clear that if the league is going to have the rule, Chicago should benefit from it in this case.
Both Ian Cunningham and Matt Ryan echoed similar sentiments on the Bears' behalf in separate interviews.
Poles also mentioned that discussions with the league were ongoing and that the door was not closed on the Bears receiving compensatory picks.
Now things are beginning to take a positive turn.
Chicago Bears insider Courtney Cronin appeared on ESPN Radio in Chicago on Friday and said more clarity on the compensation situation could arrive by the end of the week. Cronin currently believes the Bears will win the battle and ultimately receive the draft picks.
If that happens, it would be a significant asset.
After trading wide receiver DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills, the Bears are currently slated to hold the 25th, 57th, and 60th overall picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
That’s already strong capital.
Chicago’s own third-round selection currently sits at No. 89 overall, and a compensatory pick would land at the end of the third round, just outside the top 100.
That could potentially give the Bears five selections in roughly the top 100 picks.
That’s the type of ammunition that allows a team to do serious damage—whether that means building through the draft or packaging picks together in trades.
For a team looking to revamp its defense while staying cost-effective, those extra picks could be exactly what Chicago needs.
It’s also important for the Bears to get a resolution quickly. With trades and free agency approaching next week, knowing exactly how much draft capital you have can significantly impact an organization’s offseason strategy.
But as things stand right now, momentum appears to be moving in Chicago’s favor. And if the Bears do receive those picks, it will simply be the league following the rule as written.
As it should.