Chicago Bears fans are still fuming over the fact that they are not getting draft picks from Ian Cunningham's hiring as general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.
As part of the Rooney Rule, when a minority candidate is hired or promoted to a top football executive position on another team, that team usually receives two compensatory third-round picks. Well, Cunningham went from assistant general manager of the Bears to general manager of the Falcons, so that should be picks for Chicago. Still, since Matt Ryan is the president of football for Atlanta and is considered the top executive making football decisions, the Bears won't get any picks.
ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio emailed the NFL for clarification after Ryan publicly stated in an interview that Cunningham is making all the football decisions for the Falcons and that Ryan is merely a fly on the wall. The league stood by the Falcons' hierarchy.
“The policy for receiving picks pertains to the head coach or the primary football executive,” the NFL told PFT via email. “The primary football executive position was filled by Matt Ryan.”
NFL not changing their ruling on Ian Cunningham for Bears
The league is proving that it is just ignoring common sense, which is highly disappointing. Ryan, no offense to him, literally admitted he's doing nothing, and Cunningham is "riding the ship," but the NFL doesn't seem to care that it is now on the record for everyone to hear.
It has made this situation messier as the league is not doing the right thing by the Bears. This is only the start of the discussion about the Rooney Rule, which is already facing criticism after only one minority coach was hired among the 10 head coach openings in the NFL during the 2026 offseason.
Read more: Super Bowl LXI conspiracy theory is working in Bears' favor for 2026 season
This is a clear case of the NFL essentially saying, "We got bigger problems to solve than this, so we don't care." Horribly disappointing from the league, and hopefully a decision they will reconsider in the very near future.