Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Bears are talking to NFL about getting draft compensation for Ian Cunningham (Hour 1)
24 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What compensation are the Bears seeking for Ian Cunningham's departure?
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Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10-2 on 104.3 The Score.
Emory Hunt, that is good stuff. He's the analyst for CBS Sports HQ. He was at the HBCU Legacy Bowl this weekend. He is the owner of Football Game Plan. Thanks for coming on, Emory.
You know what's fascinating about that is the fact that, you know, when you look at this thing holistically, and I'm not a fan of any team, I'm just a fan of being right.
Okay, look, you don't trust me, you can trust one thing.
love to be right is there going to be something at 25 that can help them immediately and is that more likely to happen at edge or left tackle if so glad you asked that question because i've been compiling a list of things in life that were a mistake number one speakerphone speakerphone number one and number two might be airports but why airports i know you don't i i'm usually very good with names but i'll be damned if i haven't forgotten yours you stole my cab
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Chapter 2: How does Ryan Poles view the impact of Ian Cunningham's promotion?
I've never stole anything in my life. I hailed a cab on Park Avenue this afternoon, and before I could get in it, you stole it. You're the guy who tried to get my cab. I knew I knew you. Yeah. I just flew back from the Legacy Bowl, like you mentioned. It was 10 a.m. in the morning in New Orleans Airport. There were three young ladies sitting there eating a big plate of nachos.
Like, how do you even have the taste for that at 10 in the morning? Well, Chris, since you're royalty now, I made your favorites. Dinner for breakfast? Third and fighting hard for third might be...
mock drafts have you done a mock draft yet and where would you who do you have going to the bears at 25 if you have i only do two a year okay dot com one is a small school only mock draft small schools are schools that are fcs d2 d3 because what they've now tried to do nowadays that made me add to my list two things that were a mistake They're adding now, oh, this guy goes to a small school.
Oh, yeah, what school? And you think it's Illinois State. You think it's Southern Illinois. Oh, no, he went to Iowa State.
Let me get out of my face.
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Chapter 3: What are the Bears' draft strategies for the upcoming draft?
Emory Hunt, philosopher and football analyst, and spot on on a lot of both. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. Happy combine. Is that a thing? I think so. Okay. You know, you say it out loud. It doesn't always sound how you want it to. And what's that, Ray Diaz?
We have this fresh Ryan Poles audio ready to go. Just wanted to let you know in your ear there. No expiration date.
You know what? This is what we like to do on Rahimi Harris and Brody. We are going to be getting news all day here on The Combine, real time on 104.3 The Score. We also expect to hear from Ben Johnson in just a little bit. Thanks to our producer Sean Sears and Tyler Buterbaugh for also helping us out with this. In addition to Ray Diaz.
So without further ado, we're going to pause when we want to react to something, but we will play. Ryan pulls his comments to the media here from the combine this morning.
Chapter 4: How does Ryan Poles assess the current state of the Bears' roster?
Questions.
Yeah, that's a great question. I think, um, I kind of put that whole thing into two buckets. One, I'm really proud that Ian has the opportunity to be a general manager, something we've talked about for a long time before we were even employed by the Bears. It was our vision to climb through the ranks, get a seat, the GM seat, and then help the other one get to their position as well.
So I'm really happy for him. How we do that and why we do that has nothing to do with compensation whatsoever. I want to make that very clear. On the other side, there's a set of rules that were put in place that I think can be applied to this situation. So we've communicated through the right channels, so we'll see what happens as we move forward. I'm not sure. We'll just wait for a response.
No one personally called me from the league.
He and Mr. Sears said that he thinks you should, and you think you should. So the Bears think you should, the Falcons think you should.
It seems like it. Yeah, so it'll be up to the league and how they see it.
So you formally have appealed it to the league?
We've had conversations, yeah.
What's your overall opinion of the rule itself? Are there other versions from your statement of the rule?
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Chapter 5: What challenges does the Bears' front office face regarding salary cap flexibility?
So because of that, there's a lot of understanding in the NFL that the Bears will not get compensatory picks for promoting, like Ryan Poole's mentioned, his career arc coming from Kansas City, getting a promotion and running a front office. And the rule is being selectively applied. So what do you two think? And Mark, I'll start with you because you're not at the combine this time around.
You're with us. Bears reporter Mark Grody. When you hear that from Ryan Poles, what do you think?
I love that they're there. I didn't necessarily think that this would be the route for Ryan Poles. It's been so quiet on this front. But the fact that they're having conversations in regards to an appeal regarding the compensatory picks is heartening.
I don't think at the end of the day they're going to come out with anything out of this, but I do think that this is the time now to clean that up, make it more clear, make it more concise, and then going forward. I don't expect them to get compensatory picks, though, still.
This seemed like a layup for Ryan Pulse. He knew he was going to be asked about it. He's known for weeks he was going to be asked about this specifically since the hiring of Ian Cunningham and the news that they weren't going to get the picks. I thought it was interesting that he wasn't given necessarily himself an explanation, but he said...
not necessarily a formal appeal, but that they've had conversations, which made it sound like the conversation is still going, which is a good thing, I think. You're probably right, Mark. They're probably not going to get the picks, but exhaust every avenue to try to find out, hey, this process seems like it didn't work in the way it was intended by the way you guys set it out.
Me, I can speak to this personally because... I actually got a job with the Bears and saw the extra players that the Chiefs got. So the fact that they were on the field tells me that you guys do give out the picks. It's not something that doesn't happen. Why is it not happening here?
We've heard the explanation, but you pair this with what Ian Cunningham said, and it seems like the NFL is getting a consistent message from both camps.
Well, and that's it. Ian Cunningham also spoke at the Combine today, and he said that he thinks that that should be in place. And if you guys don't advocate for yourselves when the league has already selectively applied this rule, you're not doing yourself any favors if you don't. So credit to Ryan Poles, credit to Ian Cunningham for being in their positions.
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Chapter 6: How does Ryan Poles evaluate the quarterback situation with Tyson Bajan?
So you will hear Ryan polls in the entirety throughout this hour here on 104.3 The Score with Rahimi Harrison-Grote. We want to get back to it.
One more thing I wanted to say from that first little part there. When Ian Cunningham first came into the building with the Chicago Bears, it felt like from day one he was being ushered out because they wanted him to get an opportunity. So it was always hilarious to me that that was ā okay, let's see. Every ā like ā Two or three months.
Ian Cunningham has heard from this team or that, or we're trying to give him the opportunity. And so get to know Jeff King because he'll probably be gone soon as well. The new assistant GM for the Bears, if the Bears are to continue to succeed.
Yeah, Jeff King is the director. He was a director. He's now the assistant GM. He was the director of player personnel. And from what everybody says, and this seems to be the overall sentiment, a well-deserved promotion for him, for sure. We continue our Combine press conference with Ryan Poles, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers here on 104.3 The Score.
We'll see what they think.
Yeah, I think there's a vision for it.
I think in the next few weeks, we'll see if we can get some clarity on that, just in terms of retaining our own. I want to see how that plays out. As I said, at the end of the season, we have more constraints now than we ever have before. We're further back in the draft. From a cap standpoint, we've got to clear some room there. So we have to be strategic.
And also, like I've always said, it takes two to make that happen. So we want to be really smart with the guardrails that we put up. And if it falls under that, then great.
If not, then we have to pivot to the next deal.
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Chapter 7: What are the Bears' plans for improving the linebacker position?
I think he's one of the best cap guys in the league. He gives us a lot of different scenarios for us to operate in, but also showing us the short-term and long-term effect of each one of those decisions. Because we want to stay in that sweet spot where we have maximum amount of flexibility as we move on, not only from this year, but three years down the road.
I hope eventually to have a quarterback situation, too, where we've got to pay a young quarterback. So that comes into play as well.
I think we're getting closer and closer to clarity on that side of things, which helps us start to build those models to make sure that, again, we're doing the right thing for us moving forward and we're not putting ourselves in a situation where we've got to make really tough or bad decisions down the road that hurt us.
How are you looking at this year as far as graphing for me versus...
That's big. So Ryan Pohl's acknowledging... Caleb Williams' rookie contract. Feinstein, as he mentioned, Matt Feinstein, is I think we just, what do we refer to him as? The cap guy for the Bears? He's going to help try to figure out how to make contracts more flexible so the Bears have more room. The league year starts on March 11th, so they need more room under that salary cap right now.
According to overthecap.com, they're about $5 million over. So that's important to keep of note here as well.
Matt Feinstein, by the way, his official title on the Bears website is Vice President of Football Administration.
Well, I thought Poles put it perfectly, too, that we hope to be in that position to be paying a young quarterback that they'd like to do it. And maybe he's already hinting at, let's do the restructuring of the contract before we give out the contract so we can pay other people and get more creative because it is one of the biggest issues in all.
The Chiefs are going through it right now with Patrick Mahomes that When you're in that rookie contract, life is good. But when you pay what we hope to be an elite quarterback, that's a lot of dough.
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Chapter 8: What insights does Ryan Poles provide about the Combine and team building?
But I'm saying perhaps maybe before even the fifth-year option gets discussed.
Well, that would be next offseason is basically what you're talking about. And that wouldn't surprise me at all. I think everything that they do, whether it's Ryan Poles, Matt Feinstein, Jeff King, it's got to be geared to we need to make the most out of this rookie contract, but also be malleable when we know Caleb's got to get paid. And so everybody that they sign, everybody that they draft ā
Understanding this guy who's here right now definitely won't be here when Caleb gets paid because, well, that's just the way life is. Even if they're good and the better they play, the more money they're going to want to make. That's kind of an issue already with certain members of the secondary right now.
Unless I'm missing a name somewhere along the line here, I do believe the last time the Bears gave out a second contract was to a gentleman by the name, to a quarterback, was Jay Cutler. Unless I'm missing somebody.
Yeah, and they didn't even draft him. You've got to go way back.
And they didn't even draft him. As it turned out, I remember being for the payment of Jay Cutler in the second contract, but it didn't ultimately work out with him getting that. Or was it a third contract? It might have even been a third contract with Jay Cutler. But he's the last one that I can remember. In other words, that would be a pretty big moment for the Bears whenever it does come.
We're going to listen to Ryan Poles for the rest of this hour, kind of react with us. If you like, you can join our conversation. 312-644-6767 is our number here at 104.3 The Score. You can text us and you can call us. And we're going to listen to this and also what Ben Johnson has to say.
Pause it, discuss, and then reassess and evaluate because Combine News is happening fast and furious here in Indianapolis. We heard from Brad Biggs earlier on the morning show. with Mully and Haw, Ruthie Polinski filling in for Mully. We also heard from other people talking about what they expect the Bears to do.
Chris Emma will join us live from the Combine at 1 o'clock, so you don't want to miss that. And in the meantime, we broadcast live from the Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by... your local Hyundai dealers. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. Our producers, Ray Diaz, Tyler Buderbaugh, Sean Sears helping out today. And you can join us on Twitch. We have moved on Twitch.
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