The Chicago Bears have now lost a very valuable asset to their front office staff. Assistant general manager Ian Cunningham was hired by the Atlanta Falcons to serve as their general manager on Thursday.
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After multiple years of being a finalist for GM jobs, Cunningham will be leaving the Bears to report directly under legendary quarterback and new Falcons president of football operations Matt Ryan.
Unfortunately for Bears general manager Ryan Poles, the team has now received some brutal news regarding the 2026 NFL draft due to Cunningham’s exit.
The Chicago Bears will not be receiving compensatory draft picks for 2026
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According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, the Bears will not receive the two third-round compensatory draft picks that are given from the NFL.
This is reportedly because the NFL league office does not consider the Falcons GM job a “primary football executive job” according to Jones.
Jones states that the NFL considers the Falcons GM job a “secondary position” due to Cunningham reporting directly to Ryan, the head of football operations.
“The general manager role in Atlanta is like most other GM gigs across the league with one exception: this job is not what the league office considers the “primary football executive” position. Cunningham is considered a secondary football executive who reports to Ryan, the PFE as designated by the team and league office.”
It was also reported by Jones that the Bears front office knew they would not receive these draft picks for a while, but allowed Cunningham to still interview for the job.
For the past few years, the NFL has given teams compensatory draft picks if a minority front office member or coach took roles at general manager or as a head coach.
Unfortunately for the Bears, they have somehow managed to lose out on two draft picks thanks to the NFL.
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