The Chicago Bears just took a hit to their future draft plans. The NFL has informed the team it will not award the compensatory draft picks Chicago expected to receive after Ian Cunningham left in January to join the Atlanta Falcons. Stunned by the outcome, top Bears officials flew to league headquarters in New York to appeal directly to Commissioner Roger Goodell. For now, the ruling wipes out the chance at two third‑round compensatory picks the Bears had penciled into the next two drafts.
League: Cunningham did not meet the primary‑executive test
At the heart of the decision is a technical but crucial question: who actually holds final football authority in Atlanta. The league focused less on titles and more on that ultimate decision‑making power. A league spokesperson said the NFL concluded “Mr. Cunningham did not fill that role with the Falcons as it is defined in league rules,” according to the Chicago Sun‑Times.
Falcons' structure muddied the waters
Atlanta’s own announcement helped turn a simple promotion into a rule‑book puzzle. In the Falcons’ release, the team stated that Cunningham “will report directly to the team’s president of football, Matt Ryan,” language the league cited when designating Ryan as the primary football executive, according to the Atlanta Falcons.
Falcons president Matt Ryan has also publicly insisted that Cunningham is running the football operation, saying, “He is the G.M.,” a line both clubs leaned on during their appeals, per NBC Sports/ProFootballTalk. The league, however, ultimately sided with its own reading of the power structure over how the teams described it.
How the compensatory rule works
The policy in question is the 2020 owners’ resolution, often referred to as JC‑2A. It awards teams that develop minority coaches or executives a third‑round compensatory pick in each of the next two drafts when those employees are hired away as head coaches or primary football executives. Those extra selections land at the end of the third round and are designed to encourage upward mobility for underrepresented candidates, as laid out when owners approved the change. The full language appears in the league’s original resolution announcement from the NFL.
Why Chicago pushed back
The Bears argued that Cunningham’s move fit the spirit and the letter of that rule and that they should receive the corresponding draft capital. Team leaders made their case in person to Goodell in New York. Owner George McCaskey urged the league to “think big picture” about how the decision might ripple through future hiring, while general manager Ryan Poles described the situation as “a little odd” as the club worked through the formal appeals process, according to Shaw Local. Earlier, Shaw Local also captured Poles’ public reaction at the combine.
What’s next and what’s at stake
With the 2026 NFL Draft set for April 23–25 in Pittsburgh, there is little runway left for any change of course that would alter Chicago’s draft board. Bears officials say they expect a final answer soon, and a late decision to award or deny picks this close to April’s draft would shape how the team approaches trades and roster construction in the short term. Analysts note that a pair of third‑round selections can significantly expand a team’s draft‑day flexibility. For background on the upcoming event, see the draft overview from the NFL, and for how the rule would have applied had Cunningham been deemed the primary executive, see analysis from Pro Football Network.
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