I’m sure Chicago Bears fans are going to have a love/hate relationship with new Atlanta Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham for years to come.

I, for one, was happy to see Cunningham finally get his opportunity to lead his own team and think he’s going to do a great job facilitating that rebuild alongside president of football Matt Ryan and head coach Kevin Stefanski. But, the compensatory pick situation is always going to sting for fans in Chicago with how all that went down.

And now we’re seeing another piece to this that we should have expected when it comes to Cunningham bringing former Bears players along with him to Atlanta.

Ian Cunningham adds another former Chicago Bears draft pick following Gervon Dexter Sr. trade

The first deal made between Bears general manager Ryan Poles and Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham went down a few days ago when the Bears shipped former second-round pick Gervon Dexter Sr. to the Falcons in exchange for a former 2023 draft pick of their own in Clark Phillips III plus a future fifth-round pick.

The decision was an easy one for both sides. Dexter had been out-played by the younger defensive tackles in Chicago and wasn’t taking to the coaching like the other players in the room. He needed a fresh start going into a contract year and Cunningham was a part of the scouting process that helped land Dexter in Chicago in the first place.

“Gervon, obviously a talented player and young to the game of football because he was a basketball player coming up. You saw the upside and the potential at Florida,” Cunningham explained. “He’s a big man that’s strong and was still growing into his body. Big, strong, powerful, explosive… We’re excited to be able to get a player like him in the building to help us continue to grow on defense.”

Dexter wasn’t the only former Chicago draft pick from the 2023 class Cunningham added to his team. Earlier this week, the Falcons also signed former Bears’ third-round defensive tackle Zacch Pickens to the practice squad. Pickens was one of the numerous third-round busts under the watch of Ryan Poles after playing 26 games with three starts in Chicago.

Ryan Poles is finally moving on from past mistakes

Clearly, it wasn’t all on Ryan Poles for why Dexter and Pickens didn’t work out. Cunningham clearly likes both of those guys if he wanted to bring them with him to Atlanta and more power to him. Bears fans are certainly glad to finally see Poles move on from former mistakes this regime made and realizing when things just aren’t going to work out.

“I think I’ve been pretty quick to, if there’s something that doesn’t work out, I think we’re pretty good at being honest about that and moving on,” Poles explained. “I don’t think we’re an organization, or I’m a GM, that’s going to hold on just because it was a draft pick or a trade that you made and now I gotta make it work and we’re going to keep that player here when it’s not working. That’ll hurt the team. The locker room always knows. So we hold true to that and want to put the best group together regardless of how they were acquired.”

Development certainly plays a part in why the Bears held on to players before moving on, as does a new coaching staff coming in with a different vision on what kind of players they want.

Still, since Poles has been the general manager in Chicago, the Bears have now moved on from 15 of 26 draft picks from 2022-2024, before the arrival of head coach Ben Johnson.

That is a major concern, but the Bears have recognized the problems that took place in that span and moved on while retooling the roster to account for those misses. And one team’s trash could be another team’s treasure, at least that seems to be Cunningham’s thinking with acquiring Dexter and Pickens.