Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Did Falcons' Matt Ryan make the case for the Bears to get draft compensation?

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote wondered if Falcons president of football Matt Ryan just made the case for the Bears to get compensatory draft picks for assistant general manager Ian Cunningham leaving Chicago to become Atlanta’s new general manager.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043 The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score, and we are fighting for the right to draft picks. Because what the heck is going on here? I've gotten messages about this appropriately. I've gotten questions about this online. And even Mike Florio just said, I've had 50 Bears fans ask me, based on, Ian Cunningham leaving based on the fact that if he got a promotion,

the Bears were due compensatory draft picks, two in the third round. And now that's not going to happen. It's one each draft. So like you get one this year, you get one the next year. The point is there should be compensation. The NFL should be defending the own rules

that they created and that they adopted and set up to promote the hiring of my minority candidates and the front office jobs, which is what happened here. In Cunningham left. That's your first indication that this was a promotion. The second one was how he's been talked about. And the fact that it didn't happen,

and they're almost using like a loophole or a technicality to get around this. Everybody has every reason to question this, and I'm glad we are. Yeah, because he was, Matt Ryan was referred to as the primary football, executive in Atlanta. But now it would appear which means that the Bears would not get the two

third round picks. Give us our draft picks. Give us our draft picks. Because it was seen to the NFL loophole and that's what this is as a lateral move. Exactly. But now Matt Ryan himself is telling on himself in regards to this. Saying that Ian Cunningham is in charge

of the roster of free age. agency of the draft decisions. So let's listen to Matt Ryan himself. Explain Ian Cunningham's role. When you are going through the draft process and the free agency, are you going to be actively involved in that, or are you going to let your people do it? Man, Ian's in charge.

Ian's in charge of that space. I'm looking forward to learning about, you know, this. Like I said it the other day, and Ian's Presser, like, I've never sat in a draft meeting. And so Monday is going to be the first time I'm sitting in a draft meeting, and I've got a lot to learn. So 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. And I'm excited about that. You guys, you know, Ian is incredibly competent and qualified and he's awesome. So looking forward to watching him do his thing. The reason I ask that, because Tony Baceli, who I know very well, actually is in the whole draft process and watches tapes and it goes to the scouting and everything. I'm going to be in it.

But you're going to be involved. Yes, I'll be involved. and I'll be involved in whatever way Ian meets me. You know, that really is, you know, Arthur from the top down, he believes in servant leadership. And there is no better servant leader than Arthur Blank. And I know that from being there as a player. I have felt that for the last month in the role that I'm in.

And really my role is to be that same person for Kevin, to be that same person, you know, for Ian and really the rest of the building. And so, yeah, I'm going to be involved. Like, I love that kind of stuff. And I love being around it. This is what I'm passionate about. But I also understand my responsibility is to be there to help out Ian where I can. And, you know, maybe that's offering a different lens and offering a different perspective.

But this is Ian, you know, this is Ian's regular season right now, man. He is in it and he is driving the ship for us. We'll take two third round draft picks, please. What are we doing here? Like, that's where I sit with this. Matt Ryan's title is president. Ian Cunningham's title is general manager. And unlike on a baseball team, say the Cubs, for example, where it has different connotation with Jed

Hoyer and Carter Hawkins. Matt Ryan just told everybody what this is. The NFL says, oh, it's a lateral move because Matt Ryan is still listed as president. He's therefore above Ian Cunningham. Ryan Poles is above Ian Cunningham in Chicago, therefore it's not a promotion. He just told you it wasn't. Ian's in charge. The biggest question I have about all of this is, why don't you want to give them the draft

pick? Why are you being so specific about something where the spirit of the law, which is what is usually referred to here as the intent, rather than the letter of the law, which is the technicality, like the bears don't deserve it for hiring somebody and them interviewing, and you understand that this is, this is a promotion for him? Why do you not want to give teams the awards you put into place? Yeah, Matt Ryan just spelled it out for everybody.

And if I'm the by the way portion of this, If I'm an Atlanta fan and I'm listening to Matt Ryan there talking about it like it's a hobby, oh, I'm looking forward to learning. Oh, it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to this whole front office. I've never gotten to sit in on a meeting like that. I've got a lot to learn. It just, it's very interesting the way he's talking about the job and everything that goes with it.

So I'm a little concerned about Matt Ryan himself. Yeah, for Matt Ryan to say that, that's nice that he is confident enough to be able to say that. but that's a little alarming if you're a falcons fan. A little bit. In the meantime, we've already gotten a ton of points made on the text line that are good. Yeah, you heard me. Good points on the text line. 312644-67.

312 says the NFL won't admit they made a mistake. They'll just dig in and stick by their original statement. We already know this. We may. But that doesn't mean that we can't raise some cane on behalf of the bears and the fact that they put rules into place and incentives to do the right thing. And then they're like, no, we're, it's not enough. Let's keep just dangling the carrot for these teams. Come on, man. That's not what this is.

Ian Cunningham got a promotion. It's not the same job he had with the Bears. That is the idea. That is the intent. Do the right thing. It's a victimless crime for you to give up that draft pick. The only victim is the Bears. So what the hell? I love that. You're right. The text line is good right now. It is hot right now. Guys. Go text line. Help me. What is, let's add another element to it. What is Ryan Pace's role with the Falcons?

Yeah, he's there too. I just look it up. I didn't think he was still there. Is he still there? It's such a great question. No, he does appear to continue to be there as the, is he still there? The national football, he's the vice president of football operations for the Atlanta Falcons. and of course if you really don't remember him,

he was the GM for the Bears for six years, 2015 to 2021. Yeah, so he's still there, which complicates things further, maybe? I don't know. If Ryan Pace somehow got the Bears to not get two draft picks, so help me. Don't let it happen.

That's what Ryan Pace is saying. But the fact of the matter is, Even if you think it's debatable, what is the problem with rewarding the intent? And you know what the worst answer is to all that, Layla? And this is what they're saying? Well, we're going to revisit all of this during the off season. Like even when there is great evidence right here in front of you that you're not following what you said the rule was. Well, and here's the other part of this.

you know, we talk about this on other teams, you know, like who's on the NFL competition committee, who's on various other committees. And George McCasky is, I believe, on one of the committees involving inclusion. But the reason a lot of these owners need to be on committees is because they wouldn't put up with this stuff. They would raise some hell with the NFL. And they would say, hey, you know, like they've done the necessary politicking. I know that's a bad word these days, but this is really kind of the idea. they've been in these meetings, they've been in these rooms,

they've helped ensure, you know, that they're seen and heard, which is really what that is. And then they can get on the phone with the league and say, hey, you know this isn't right. And they've developed enough of a relationship, aka having a base there and being confident enough to say,

you get on the phone with the league and say this isn't right, and you know it, don't mess with my team. Because I wonder if other owners would be in that position. If it happened to them, Oh, yeah. Would they be, would the NFL be so quick to be like, nah, you know, that's not enough. You don't get the picks.

And perhaps there are other owners saying don't give them the picks because it puts us down one spot in the draft and they're fighting for themselves. And that's pushing this a little bit. Because otherwise I can't understand why this isn't happening, especially after you hear what Matt Ryan had to say. And I am not, continue to not see any places that don't.

say that Ryan Pace is still part of the Atlanta Falcons. Aaron on I-55, you're on Rahimi Harrison Grady. So, thank you guys for getting me on. And thank you guys for talking about this. But here's the bigger problem that I have with this. This is even bigger than everything when I look at it. Matt Ryan, who's doing the hiring, who's hiring this guy, doesn't know how to run a draft.

doesn't know anything about it, yet he has the position that he has. This is the problem with the NFL and diversity hiring and why this is important. The person that hired the guy who we should get the draft pitch for doesn't have the ability to do the job himself. He doesn't even know what he's doing. So you're putting people in power to hire other people, but they have no idea how to, You wouldn't run a Fortune 500 company like that. You don't put a person on the radio to host a radio, and they don't even take a class or they haven't produced

or haven't done anything. That's the bigger problem, and it keeps happening over and over and over again. And that's how you end up with a Matt Nagy as a head coach who's never worked to anybody else, and he gets a head coaching job with no real experience of even calling plays. he only did it for games before the bears hired him. So these are the problems, and this is why I'm glad you guys are talking about it, because when you look at it from the bigger point of view,

how are these people getting these jobs? I get he was a great quarterback, but he's not qualified to do the job. Amen, Aaron, and that is the bigger point here, and he even said it on the mic. He said it on the mic, and he's got a pre-existing relationship with Ryan Poles, and I think that helped in this case as to why he wanted to hire Ian Cunningham. in Cunningham as Ben qualified. But you're right.

The help me learn how to do this job at the job thing is hurting this. And it is very common practice in the league. I detect no notes. Like Aaron did a great job. He's absolutely correct on that. Yeah, it reminds me when Dan Marino was hired to be like the president of the Miami Dolphins and then it turned out to be a joke because it really wasn't.

He was probably a lot like, oh, this would be cool. I'm going to learn some of this stuff. But they had hired him more. for the marketing and the publicity and to be able to say that they had Dan Marino as part of their organization. Obviously, John Elway ran the Denver Broncos to a certain degree of success,

I think in his case, but it is very interesting. And I like that mad nagging. It's a shout-out. But good example. In the long line of coaches, up until this very moment, that we feel like we're actually qualified before they got the job getting the job.

And 773 says, why aren't the bears complaining about this? I just don't know that that's George McCasky's nature. Like if I were an NFL owner, I would be on people constantly. I'd be like, hey, stop hitting my quarterback and not having it be a penalty. I'm like, hey, we need to look at the rule change. If we really care about quarterbacks as much in the pocket, then we need to look at at least a five-yard box when they run the football. You know, like, I would be inching and fighting for every,

single scrape I could get. I probably wouldn't be this aggressive about it because it wouldn't work. But the point is I would be fighting. And I don't know why he's not, but that doesn't mean we can't. Right. And we don't know that they aren't. We don't know that there haven't been conversations, you know, that they have been ongoing. But I do tend to agree with you understanding the way they work over there.

They probably would not want to rattle anything right now, especially because part of, you know, they don't want to put a stain on their guy Ian Cunningham either. There's not anything about a stain. on Ian Cunningham. That's the point. The point is Ian Cunningham earned this, so why are you taking it away from him and the team that promoted him to begin with and led him to this opportunity?

I am glad that he gets the power, though. I'm glad that there's no ambiguity in what, like he is the GM, man. So good for Ian Cunningham. But to Aaron's point, somehow he gets the power, but yet he doesn't get the respect that actually comes with a position. Right, but the guy the figurehead does. And that's

another story for another day. And for those of you who know what I'm talking about, you damn no. Super Bowl predictions are next.