Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ian Cunningham believes Bears should get compensatory picks for his exit

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote reacted to new Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham express his belief that the Bears deserve draft pick compensation under the Rooney Rule following his departure from Chicago.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. We're going to take the north and never give it back. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, The Score. Was that the Ryan Poles take the north and never give it back? It feels like so long since that happened. Oh, we're recording... That'll take the north or that he said it? Yes.

We're recording the Shovels in the ground podcast today, Dan Weeder and I are. Is that the temporary title until they actually get the shovels in the ground? It doesn't sound as good. Whisper SSG like you. TDRSG. No, it doesn't work. Yeah, it doesn't work. But I do appreciate the

target in the title in that we're going to have a new target every time that last target got accomplished. We'll just change the name to a new target. Exactly. Welcome to Hollis Harbor. If you missed the no, that was Ben Johnson. We think jovially

saying no regarding the possibility. of Tyson Beijit being traded. One of the textors said he saw the video and the video, it looks like he was like a fake cough. It was definitely a fake cough with a smile in the video if you watch the case. Oh, okay. So he's letting

you know that his no is real. Okay. Tyson Chandler, here's your hotel room. No, he gets the sweet. Tyson Baygent, you mean? What did I say? Tyson Chandler. Oh, my God, who I love. Who I absolutely love. You love the Bulls, Grody.

I was just bringing, I was just talking about Tyson Chandler with Lawrence Holmes last week. We were talking about how he had. We were talking about Eddie Curry and Tyson Chandler. And it was like, Tyson Chandler had a really nice career. Not the part with the Bulls necessarily, but he had a really nice career. He did have a really nice career. In the career?

No, he didn't, but he played for a long, longer than I thought he had played. He definitely played for a long time. And Eddie Curry is back home being a Bulls ambassador. I like that. That makes me feel good. Good for you, Eddie Curry. One of the percent chances that Tyson Bayesian is a Bears ambassador when his career is over. I say 100.

You could be. Unless he wants to stay in West Virginia. 98. 98%. You're actually giving a percentage. It's pretty strong. I do believe 98% is the answer. Now, there is some actual business to get to from a lot of what we heard at the NFL

Combine. And it was the first question that was asked to Ryan Poles. Well, he wasn't the only one who also discussed it. Ian Cunningham met the. media at the combine and he said the bear should get compensatory draft picks for him getting hired in Atlanta. I haven't had much time to really dive into like the the wording of it. It was always my interpretation that if general manager gets hired, that team would receive two third round picks. I'm a general manager I was hired. I would think that they would

get two third round picks. I don't know the wording of it. That's just my perspective. Again, I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for them giving me that job and helping me grow to get this job right now. So in case you missed it earlier this morning, that's what Ian Cunningham had to say when it came to the Bears needing to get the compensatory draft picks. Brian Poles also echoed that. And I thought that that was something that needed to be said. by the both of them. That was the first question Ryan Poles was asked. And Ian Cunningham was also talked to about it as well.

It felt very concerned, Layla. It felt like there's big conversations. Those guys are buddies. And they probably are like, hey, are we not getting our picks? And then Ian Kind of like, yeah, what's going on? I was like, all right, don't worry. I got you. In the first session with Ryan Poles today, he didn't quite commit to actually saying they have appealed it,

but he did say that they have had conversations in regards to an appeal. So like for people wondering, and a lot of people still are very interested in this story. Or so are the bears. Or just salty about it. And that's cool on the accounting. Yeah, yeah, you're damn right. You're worth some compensatory picks.

Well, and Ryan Poles also adding, here's the frustrating part. Ryan Poles shouldn't have to add his personal experience to this discussion. He shouldn't have to remind the NFL of a law that they decided, to institute and they decided to incentivize teams who hire general manager candidates who are minorities and then give them to compensatory draft picks when they get a promotion to a title like general manager. It shouldn't have to take Ryan Poles telling the NFL that. It shouldn't have to take Ian Cunningham. It shouldn't have to take them justifying why they both got promotions. This is a picks free situation where nobody's giving up anything. You know, it's not a lot of people

thought in the reactions and I've seen people think, oh, they're taking picks from the Falcons. No. This is part of the incentive that the NFL wanted to give teams free, compensatory picks. And now they're selectively applying the rules. And frankly, perhaps illustrating why the rule was brought in to begin with? You're taking me back to my grill master when I was a kid, when I used to cook. And my mom said, if I made food for myself, guess what? I had to feed my brother and sister younger than me.

as well. So I might make a couple of, you know, grilled cheese sandwiches feeling good. And they'd be like, well, where's ours? I want one. And it wasn't me saying, here's mine. No, I just made some more grilled cheese sandwiches. The NFL could just make some more picks.

That's the most frustrating part about all of this is to make them have to justify their existence and their promotions in this. You're somewhat illustrating why this needed to happen anyway. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a bad look It's a bad look for the league I'm still thinking about that grilling

What were you grilling? The grilled cheese sandwiches Oh, the girl cheese No, you're not You know like the grill master Where you can just put anything on the grill And just like I used to make pancakes I used to cook up whatever they wanted

Nice But sometimes I just cook something for myself Big brother over there Because you could smell that food Throughout the house obviously The flat top like griddle Yes That is a real luxurious thing

I was gonna say Yeah fancy Is that luxurious? Yeah It just has more space so you can do more stuff on it at the same time. That's it. It's like, oh, I, people put bread on the grid, they put eggs on it, then they'll put, like, the bread in the egg grease or something if they want.

Listen, I was out here making pancakes, flipping pancakes. Yes. So many pancakes. I think the thing that just bothers me the boast about the, the cutting ham and pole situation, isn't just that they have to justify it. It's that it comes at the cost of nobody. Right. Either under, give the people the picks in the spirit of the law.

or don't give them at all. Yeah. But I don't think what they understand is, again, in asking these men to justify their careers, you have illustrated why it is an issue. Can I read a funny text to you guys? Of always. Wait.

Do you know it's not? No! I can't stop it. It actually pertains to that. It keeps going on to my head. It actually pertains to that. Talk to me. Of course, I'm on a text thread with Dan Weeterer,

and Adam Stizinski, because we do the Take the North podcast. We're planning stuff out. Are you taking us inside backstage at TTN? I am taking you backstage at TTN right now. That's right. That's right. Shovels in the ground. That's the new name of the-

STG. Wait, what? Yeah, I was what to say? Shovels in S? Should be four letters. See, that's why it doesn't work. So the shovel at the S in the end, that's where I got with us. S-I-T-S.

So we're all trying to figure out like what do we want audio. S-I-T-G. Yeah, that's it. Shuffles of the ground. No. I don't think it's a lot. good. I just don't. We're all trying to figure out what do we want to do? And I got this side, just like

we do on the show. Like we're on text thread. We all have our opinions. We try to put a show together. Dan Weederer just now in the text thread. Ben's answer on Bejant is a must-play today, funniest moment of the day. So, yes, confirmed they're having fun with that too. We concur. We concur. It has been

a delight to have fun with Ben Johnson. I need more. Can we have fun with Chris Emma? Yeah, we need Chris Simba's firsthand account of the Ben Johnson answer. I literally want to know, too, what he thinks has been the biggest story of the day so far out there at the Combine and, of course, the hilarity of Ben Johnson. And he was present for the side sessions as well. We haven't gotten to all of that sound yet, so Chris will tell us about a lot of it next.