The Chicago Bears are still making an effort to potentially receive compensatory draft picks for former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham’s hiring with the Atlanta Falcons this offseason.

Team owner and chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren confirmed Wednesday that the team is following up with the NFL to see whether it will change its decision not to reward the Bears with two third-round compensatory picks for Cunningham’s hiring.

“I wouldn’t say change their mind,” Warren said in Phoenix on Wednesday at the end of the NFL’s annual meeting. “I think we’re just trying to follow up with them, just a normal protocol within the NFL to send in a response to say that we feel that we deserve the compensatory picks, and we understand all the different issues that are going on with the league and so I’m sure ultimately we’ll hear something back here sooner than later.”

Bears’ leadership believed they should’ve received two draft picks after the Atlanta Falcons hired Cunningham to be their general manager in January as part of the NFL’s Rooney Rule. Teams usually receive two third-round compensatory picks, one each in the next two drafts, for developing a minority executive who received a promotion.

But the Bears were told that they wouldn’t receive the picks since the NFL views new Falcons president Matt Ryan as the franchise’s leader. The league awarded its compensatory picks last month and didn’t reward any to the Bears.

McCaskey, Warren, and Bears general manager Ryan Poles all recently flew to New York to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the matter. Even after hearing the NFL’s decision, the team hopes to receive the picks in the coming weeks before this year’s draft, set to start on April 23 in Pittsburgh.

The Bears plan on continuing their effort until they hear a final decision.

“We have been in communication with the NFL in regards to see what further conversations can be had from that standpoint and so we do feel we want to be good members and good partners in the NFL and we’re happy for Ian and we’ll see where all of this is ultimately resolved from that standpoint,” Warren said.

Cunningham joined the Poles’ staff in 2022 as an assistant general manager. The team created the position that year and allowed Cunningham to work closely with Poles in making personnel decisions during their time together.

Other teams had expressed interest in Cunningham for their general manager openings over the past few years. The Falcons ultimately hired Cunningham with the intention of his leading their roster-building decisions. Ryan has said Cunningham would be the key roster decision maker since his hiring.

Atlanta leadership has voiced its support for the Bears to receive the picks. Cunningham said he thought the Bears should receive them at February’s NFL Scouting Combine based on his understanding of the rule.

McCaskey felt the Bears did what the intention of the Rooney Rule is.

“We think what we did is what the league wants every member club to do,” McCaskey said. “We identified diverse talent, we recruited him, we created a position for him, we allowed him access to the general manager role to work hand-in-hand with Ryan Poles. We allowed him to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes. We gave him supervisory duties. We gave him training. We made him ready to be a general manager in the NFL, and he’s getting his opportunity, and we’re thrilled for him.”

The move comes as there are questions about the Rooney Rule. Florida attorney general James Uthmeier sent Goodell a letter last week, concerned that the rule is “blatant race and sex discrimination. He also wrote that hiring should be based on merit.

Goodell downplayed the situation when he met with reporters Tuesday and said the league will continue with the rule’s implementation.

McCaskey said the team is committed to their philosophy of diversity within the organization. He also wants the NFL to think about how its current decision will impact future hirings.

“The league has to think big picture,” McCaskey said. “What are the consequences of us ruling in a particular way in this particular case, and how would that be applied to the other 30 teams in the future? So it’s a big question. It’s not a narrow inquiry. They have to they have to broaden their the scope of their inquiry.”