Ian Cunningham had endured several near-misses in his pursuit of a general manager job after four seasons with the Chicago Bears. Finally, the assistant GM got his opportunity. The Atlanta Falcons brought him aboard as their new general manager, handing him the keys to a team he grew up watching. It is a great story that has a chance to become the selling point of a book one day. Unfortunately, it appears Cunningham won’t get the chance to enjoy the moment any further. Barely a week after taking over, his team was hit with an ugly controversy.
News broke that James Pears Jr., the Falcons 1st round pick from last year, has been arrested on domestic violence charges, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated stalking. That is about as bad as it gets. What makes it so much worse for Atlanta is that this is the same player the team traded up to get last April, giving up their 1st round pick in 2026 to make it happen. He’s supposed to be a cornerstone of their future. Now that future is on very shaky ground.
Ian Cunningham must clean up another Ryan Pace mess.
Another piece of news arrived from Atlanta earlier in the day. Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace, who’d been with the Falcons as a personnel director since 2022, was released. That became almost inevitable after his friend, Terry Fontenot, had been fired as GM. Make no mistake. That Pearce pick had Pace’s fingerprints all over it. Few general managers loved trading up in the 1st round more than him. In seven drafts between 2015 and 2021, Pace traded up for a player three times.
| Year | Player | Compensation |
| 2016 | Leonard Floyd | 4th round pick |
| 2017 | Mitch Trubisky | Two 3rd round picks and a 4th round pick |
| 2021 | Justin Fields | 1st round pick, 4th round pick, and a 5th round pick |
It seems rather fitting that the Falcons overdrafted a quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.) and made an unnecessary trade up for a pass rusher in his final two years there. Now Ian Cunningham is left cleaning up the mess, just like Poles did in Chicago. It isn’t an enviable situation. Not only does he have to deal with this Pearch fiasco, but he must also try to find a quarterback in a draft class that doesn’t have any. He might be regretting his decision to leave at the moment.
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The Bears still await a decision on the Cunningham comp picks.
Initial media reports indicated that Chicago would not receive any because Matt Ryan, the former quarterback, had been named the Falcons’ president of football operations. Since that is considered the top “football decision-making” position, Cunningham’s move from assistant GM to GM was a lateral one, despite the title change. However, Ryan has admitted multiple times that he won’t be making any roster decisions. Those will all be Cunningham, offering unquestionable proof that he is running the show down there.
That offers some hope that the NFL might review his contract and allow the Bears to get their comp picks after all. A resolution to this issue is expected by March, before the start of the new league year. Receiving them would give Chicago eight picks in each of the next two drafts, providing more opportunities to continue supplementing their roster with young, affordable talent. Cunningham would’ve preferred it this way.
