Report: Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham to become Falcons GM

Ian Cunningham, the Chicago Bears’ assistant general manager, is set to become the general manager for the Atlanta Falcons, according to multiple NFL insiders.

Cunningham has served as the assistant general manager and right-hand man to GM Ryan Poles for the past four years. Before coming to Chicago, he was an assistant director of player personnel and director of college scouting for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cunningham will serve as GM under new Falcons president of football Matt Ryan. Ryan, was a teammate of Ryan Poles’s at Boston College. Once the former QB Ryan got the top job with the Falcons, dots began to get connected to Cunningham.

Cunningham has been an important piece of Chicago’s braintrust. Poles has mentioned him several times in press conferences and the pair were often seen at training camp side-by-side. Behind-the-scenes features like 1920 Football Drive showed Poles and Cunningham working closely during the draft, too.

It will be interesting to see what Poles does for that position. He’s called Cunningham a sounding board, and even mentioned that Cunningham helped talk Poles out of a trade-up for Rome Odunze during the 2024 draft.

As for Cunningham, it’s a great next step for him. He interviewed for GM positions the past two years, but either pulled himself out of the running or was passed over for other candidates.

Nothing is official, but it is believed that with this hire, Chicago will be in line to receive two third-round compensatory picks in a future draft (2027?) because Cunningham is a minority candidate in a front office job.