Mike Florio: NFL’s decision to deny Bears compensatory picks ‘one of the most ridiculous unforced errors’

Mike Florio has seen enough from the NFL on this one.

The NFL released its list of 2026 compensatory draft picks Monday, and the Chicago Bears weren’t on it. That means the league held firm on its earlier ruling that Chicago is not entitled to the two third-round picks it would normally receive after losing assistant general manager Ian Cunningham — who is Black — to the Atlanta Falcons, where he was hired as general manager in January. The league’s reasoning is that because the Falcons hired former NFL on CBS studio analyst Matt Ryan as president of football operations just three weeks before bringing in Cunningham, Ryan — not Cunningham — is the “primary football executive” in Atlanta, which the NFL says disqualifies the Bears from compensation.

“This is one of the most ridiculous unforced errors I’ve ever seen the NFL commit. Why would you not? Who’s gonna — let’s flip it around. If they had just given the Bears the compensatory picks, who would have complained about it? Would anyone have been upset? Would anyone have said, ‘Ian Cunningham’s not really the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons, it’s just a title, he’s a figurehead, Matt Ryan’s really in charge?’ You’ve had Matt Ryan say that Ian Cunningham is running the draft and free agency,” Florio said during a recent appearance on Chicago’s 104.3 The Score. “Sounds like he’s in charge. Cunningham has come out and said, ‘Yeah, the Bears should get the picks.’ So, I think the whole thing demeans the effort to enhance minority hiring by rewarding teams for developing talent that results in a hire as a head coach or a general manager. They’re splitting hairs unnecessarily.”

.@ProFootballTalk on the NFL not awarding the Bears compensatory picks: “This is one of the most ridiculous unforced errors I’ve ever seen the NFL commit.

“If they had just given the Bears the compensatory picks, who would’ve complained about it? Would anyone have been upset?” pic.twitter.com/DrWHp4aMM5

— 104.3 The Score (@thescorechicago) March 10, 2026

The league’s reasoning gets thornier when you trace it back a few years. Terry Fontenot was hired as Atlanta’s GM in 2021 after 17 years with the Saints, and New Orleans received its compensatory picks without question, even though Rich McKay, who has run the Falcons’ business operation since 2004, was sitting right there as president and CEO. The NFL’s position now, according to Florio, is that McKay wasn’t a football executive in any meaningful sense, so his presence didn’t cloud the picture.

Ryan is different, the league says, because his title specifically includes the word “football.” Never mind that Atlanta created that role three weeks before hiring Cunningham, or that Ryan has said publicly he’s not doing the scouting, not running the meetings, and that the general manager will have the typical GM responsibilities and control of the roster. Never mind that Cunningham spoke at the Combine in the slot reserved for top personnel executives — the same slot Ryan Poles occupies in Chicago, the same slot every GM around the league fills — while Ryan was nowhere near the podium. Never mind that Cunningham himself said the Bears should get the picks.

“The whole thing really is a mess,” the Pro Football Talk operator and owner added.

The 2020 rule change that created this compensation structure was designed to incentivize teams to develop minority coaching and front office talent by rewarding them when that talent gets promoted elsewhere. Poles, who was himself the subject of that compensation when he left Kansas City for Chicago, acknowledged at the combine that the spirit of the rule never quite sat right with him — “you should want to develop your staff regardless of the color of their skin” — but said the rule, as written, clearly applied here.

“They should have just given the picks, and it sure sounds like it’s final now that the compensatory picks have been announced,” Florio concluded.