Chicago Bears’ appeal to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over compensatory picks ruling is still alive
Chicago Bears executives confirmed Wednesday that they met in person with NFL brass to discuss the league’s decision to deny them compensatory draft picks despite Ian Cunningham’s hiring as Atlanta Falcons general manager , and that their appeal is ongoing. Bears Chairman George McCaskey said team officials met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the league’s headquarters in New York. The Bears maintain that Cunningham, their former assistant general manager, earned what constitutes a promotion when he was hired as Falcons GM.
And under the league’s diversity policy, the Bears should receive third-round draft picks in 2026 and ’27 for developing a minority candidate who was poached by another organization for a top executive role. McCaskey declined to say whether he sensed that Goodell was swayed by the Bears’ argument. “I don’t want to speculate on that,” he told reporters during the league’s annual meetings in Phoenix.
“I think we made a pretty compelling case, and we’ll just have to see what the decision is. ” McCaskey said the Bears will pursue their appeal “until they make a decision. ” Central to the issue is the league’s interpretation of the Rooney Rule, adopted in 2003 and named after then-chairman of the NFL’s Workplace Diversity Committee, Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In November 2020, team owners approved a proposal to award teams with third-round compensatory draft picks in back-to-back years if they lost a minority executive or assistant coach to a GM or head coaching job on another team — essentially rewarding a franchise for developing a minority candidate who was promoted. The Bears felt they met the threshold for compensatory picks with Cunningham: He was an assistant general manager, working under GM Ryan Poles, before the Falcons tapped him for the GM position in late January. But Cunningham reports to Falcons president of football Matt Ryan, a newly created role, and the NFL’s position is that Ryan is “primary football executive,” not Cunningham, and therefore no picks would be given to the Bears.
Cunningham said during the scouting combine in Indianapolis that he felt the Bears deserved compensation. “It was always my interpretation that if a general manager gets hired, that the team would receive two third-round picks,” he said in February. “I’m the general manager.
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