As the NFL owners' meeting wraps up, the Chicago Bears are still fighting with the NFL about receiving their compensatory picks after the Atlanta Falcons hired former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham.
This whole debacle started because the league decided that Matt Ryan, their former star quarterback, who was hired this offseason by the Falcons as the president of football, is Atlanta’s primary football executive, not Cunningham.
Ryan has said in the past that Cunningham is the general manager and made it public in an interview with Mike Florio and Chris Simms from Pro Football Talk during the NFL owners' meeting. Ironically, Ryan helped strengthen the Bears' case for receiving the compensatory picks in the same interview.
“He is the G.M. He is the G.M. I’m learning. I mean you talk about things that are coming on your desk every day, management council things, different things like that, why they rule certain ways, why they don’t rule certain ways. I’m not experienced enough to give you a really credible answer on that at this point. I would say this, I think in every facet of the word, Ian’s a General Manager in this league.”
Bears might get an assist on compensation pick battle
The NFL denied the Bears their compensatory picks because Ian Cunningham was not the Falcons’ “primary football executive.” The league determined that the title belongs to Matt Ryan, who oversees football operations at the presidential level.
But when Matt Ryan, who the NFL determined as the “primary football decision‑maker,” says he doesn’t understand why Chicago hasn’t been awarded the picks in an interview with one of the most influential voices in the NFL media at the owners' meeting of all places, the NFL’s logic collapses under its own weight.
Interestingly enough, the Atlanta Falcons keep giving the Bears reasons to keep fighting for the compensatory picks. They announced the hiring of Jeff Scott as their assistant general manager.
Since they announced the hiring on April Fools' Day, Bears fans must feel duped. Why did the Falcons hire Scott as an assistant general manager when Cunningham, by NFL definition, is still functioning as an assistant general manager below Matt Ryan?
If Scott is good enough to be hired as the general manager elsewhere in the future, then the Falcons will receive the compensatory picks. Heck, when they hired former general manager Terry Fontenot from the New Orleans Saints in 2021, the Saints received compensatory picks even though Rich McKay held a high‑level football title in Atlanta at the time.
So why is the standard suddenly different for Chicago? Why is the league now drawing a line it never drew before? Why is the NFL contradicting its own precedent while claiming consistency?
These are the questions the league has yet to answer and probably will do all they can to avoid setting the precedent that makes them look bad.
At this point, the compensatory pick is not just about draft capital. It’s about whether the NFL is willing to uphold the very rule it claims to champion. What happens when more established owners like Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, whose franchises are more valuable than the Bears, decide to sue the league when they become the next victim? Will Goodell give them compensatory picks to appease them while creating an unfair precedent for the other 30 owners?
Read more: Bears have leadership vacuum that must be addressed for potential Super Bowl run
Even if the Bears still do not receive the compensatory pick before the NFL Draft, their fight should not end there. Rather, it is just the beginning.