The Chicago Bears made one last ditch effort to convince the NFL to hand over the compensatory draft picks for losing assistant general manager Ian Cunningham at the NFL Annual Meeting this week, but the NFL is sticking to their initial ruling.

“The matter is now closed following the club’s appeal. The NFL informed the Bears today they will not receive compensatory picks,” the league announced, via Brad Biggs. “The policy is designed to provide picks for the Primary Football Executive position. The League determined Mr. Cunningham did not fill that role with the Falcons as it is defined in League rules.”

It’s a ridiculous ruling but the door has now been slammed shut. Earlier in the week, Chicago Bears team president Kevin Warren and owner George McCaskey attempted to keep hope alive that the team could sway the league’s final decision.

“I think we made a pretty compelling case,” McCaskey said Wednesday morning at the NFL’s annual league meeting. “We’ll just have to see what the decision is.”

Nothing about Matt Ryan’s position should make him the Primary Football Executive in Atlanta

Since Cunningham, the new general manager of the Atlanta Falcons, isn’t viewed as the Primary Football Executive in the team’s front office, that position instead goes to former NFL quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan was hired prior to Cunningham as the Falcons’ newly-created president of football, a position Cunningham also interviewed for.

However, when sharing the duties of the front office, Ryan made it perfectly clear who was in charge of the primary football decisions as it relates to team building and roster management.

“Ian’s in charge,” Ryan stated on Feb. 5. “Ian’s in charge of that space. I look forward to learning about, I said it the other day in Ian’s presser, I never sat in a draft meeting. Monday is going to be the first time I sit in a draft meeting. I got a lot to learn sitting, observing, being a fly on the wall. If there’s something that Ian has a question about, or something I can help with, I’m all ears and I’m happy to share my opinion. But, Ian is driving this boat and he is the one that’s leading us moving forward.”

Back at the NFL Combine, Cunningham lobbied for the Bears to receive the two third-round compensatory draft picks for developing a minority candidate into a general manager position. Minutes later, Bears general manager Ryan Poles stepped up to the podium and took issue with the intent behind the NFL rule.

“I mean I’ll be honest, I think it is a little strange,” Poles explained. “At the end of the day, you should want to develop your staff regardless of the color of their skin. I think that is important. I think we take a lot of pride with the Bears in our setup and I take a lot of pride in that. So to be compensated for that is a little strange. I saw the Chiefs get a pick because of me and then I watched that player go and play. It’s just a little odd. But, if at the end of the day, they think that’s what is best to help incentivize, then that’s what they want to do.”

Not handing over the picks just because the Falcons made a new position for Ryan that has no clear duties is a terrible look for the league and creates a bad precedent other teams could look to follow in the future.

This has nothing to do with the Bears not getting a third-round draft pick. This entire thing is just an embarrassment by the league.

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