NEWSLETTER
The move has been percolating for about 36 hours now, and it’s happening: new Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles is poaching Ian Cunningham from the Philadelphia Eagles to be his new Assistant GM.
Ian Rapoport drops the news:
The #Bears are hiring Ian Cunningham as their new assistant GM, source says. A top lieutenant for Ryan Poles, and now the #Eagles lose a key front office member.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 29, 2022
Cunningham, who has been in the NFL for 14 years (nine with the Ravens, and the last five with the Eagles), will serve as Poles’ number two. He was previously the director of player personnel for the Eagles after an ascent up the front office ladder. We’ll have more on Cunningham soon.
Jeff Hughes indicated earlier today that Cunningham was likely to be the Bears’ new GM, as part of a restructuring and deepening of the front office (the kind we’ve desperately wanted for years):
Bears will have very specific personnel structure.
GM (Poles)
Assistant GM (likely Cunningham)
Personnel Director
Director Pro scouting
Director College scoutingNew look for the front office.
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) January 29, 2022
As Luis wrote when the Cunningham rumors got hotter:
One of the Bears’ biggest organizational short-comings has been in building out their front office. Chicago’s football team fancies itself as a family-run business and has been hesitant to expand and modernize. It is one reason why it took Ryan Pace to kick-start the efforts in refurbishing Halas Hall in 2015. And while that was an admirable first step in the process, it wasn’t nearly enough. But if Poles can do what Pace was unable to complete (building an upper-management juggernaut), then that could help accelerate the process. Heck, that Poles is already reaching out to those he knows around football with the intent on adding to the front office is encouraging.
In the end, this situation might be just the first of many to keep tabs on as we go on through this offseason. Sure, the general manager search might’ve taken some time to get cooking. But that Poles is wasting little time in trying to grow the organization sure feels like a sign of things to come.
