George McCaskey Has Joined The War For The Bears’ Comp Picks — Here Are The Details
The NFL made its ruling at the start of the new league year. Despite significant evidence showing Ian Cunningham was the primary football decision-maker for the Atlanta Falcons, the Chicago Bears would not receive two compensatory draft picks per the Rooney Rule. It was a baffling decision. Everybody involved in the situation believes the Bears were entitled to compensation. Even the national media couldn’t understand the NFL’s stubbornness regarding such a technicality. It felt like they were trying to avoid admitting they were wrong and didn’t mind screwing the Bears in the process. One would think that would be the end of it, right? Not if George McCaskey has anything to say about it.
The team chairman and owner has never been known for being overly meddlesome in league affairs. That said, he can be pretty active when he feels the cause is worthy. This is one of those cases. McCaskey, along with team president Kevin Warre and general manager Ryan Poles, flew to New York for a meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell to reinforce their appeal over the comp picks. It is hoped that this added pressure from an actual owner might sway the decision.
George McCaskey is in uncharted territory.
The NFL has made adjustments to compensatory picks before, but never this close to the draft. As of now, the closest it has happened is 44 days before opening night. There are only 23 days now until the 2026 draft begins. Chicago would shatter that record if they somehow convinced the NFL to reverse its decision. Knowing how the league has operated for years, it is hard to imagine it will be willing to rock the boat that much. Then again, they are the ones who created this mess with the funky language in the Rooney Rule. They are duty-bound to clean it up.
Making this matter even messier is an ongoing dispute with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is attacking the Rooney Rule. He states it constitutes blatant race and sex discrimination and not hiring based on merit. Most see it as the highly conservative state’s way of further curbing diversity hiring policies in the state. If Goodell were to admit the NFL made a mistake with the Bears’ decision, it wouldn’t be a great look. That makes it more difficult to get it overturned.
McCaskey is doing the right thing.
What has happened to his franchise is an injustice. They followed the spirit of the Rooney Rule, helping Cunningham elevate his profile to a point where he was hired to run his own NFL franchise. According to the rule, any minority hire in that situation earns his former team two 3rd round compensatory picks. Yet the NFL is holding out because the Falcons chose to give Matt Ryan the title of director of football operations, even though he was never going to actually run the scouting operation and pick players.
The league basically looked at his title and didn’t bother gathering any further information. He’s the primary football guy, so no picks for you. George McCaskey may not be the sharpest owner around, but he knows an injustice when he sees one. His presence in the appeal process might give Goodell pause on the matter since this isn’t something McCaskey does often. Maybe it’s a losing effort, but it wasn’t a fight the Bears were ready to abandon. They were cheated and intend to make their displeasure known.