Ian Cunningham Leaving to be Assistant GM of Chicago Bears

Cunningham becomes the third member of Eagles' front office to leave for a GM or assistant GM post in last four years

One reason Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie cited for keeping Howie Roseman in the general manager’s chair after the firing of Doug Pederson last January and, years before that, the firing of Chip Kelly, was because of the talented people the GM has attracted to the front office through the years.

“We have about five people in our organization that right now I could project that will be general managers in this league, and he continually replenishes,” said Lurie last year.

Ian Cunningham is now the latest to leave.

He will reportedly become the assistant general manager of the Chicago Bears, joining his friend Ryan Poles, who was recently named the Bears’ GM.

The move was reported Saturday night by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.

Cunningham split the director of player personnel role with the Eagles in 2021 with Brandon Brown, another executive with a rising reputation in league circles and who had a GM interview with Minnesota earlier this month before the Vikings tabbed Cherry Hill native Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to lead their football operations earlier this week.

Cunningham had been with the Eagles since the 2017 Super Bowl season, first serving as the director of college scouting. He was promoted to assistant director of player personnel in 2019 and co-director of player personnel before the 2021 season.

Before that, he spent 2008-2016 with the Baltimore Ravens, first as a player personnel assistant and then as an area scout. The Ravens are the same organization where [vice president of player personnel] Andy Weidl and former Eagles' personnel chief Joe Douglas, now the GM of the New York Jets, essentially earned their stripes.

Cunningham, a former offensive lineman at Virginia, and Poles, an ex-O-Lineman at Boston College, have never worked together but forged a relationship when both were scouts.

Cunningham and Brown were essentially the Eagles' top personnel execs under the department chief Andy Weidl.

Cunningham oversaw the team’s college scouting staff with crossover work on the pro side while Brown managed the pro personnel staff with crossover work on the college side.

His departure shouldn’t terribly impact the Eagles’ draft.

Prior to Cunningham, the Eagles lost Joe Douglas, who left to become the general manager of the New York Jets in 2019, and Andrew Berry, who left to become the GM of the Cleveland Brown in 2020.

“I think the last two major GM searches have all been raiding our organizations, for whether it's Joe Douglas or Andrew Barry,” said Lurie.

Now, Cunningham is setting sail.

He was mentioned by name in Lurie’s press conference after Pederson was fired.

“We have a real strong nucleus with Andy Weidl, Ian Cunningham, [Eagles football operations/player personnel coordinator] Catherine Raîche, [Eagles director of pro scouting] Brandon Brown,” he said. “One of the jobs of the general manager is to attract really good people and executives around him because it's not meant for one person.”

Raiche also had an interview during this offseason hiring cycle to be the GM of the Vikings.

Other important member on the Eagles’ personnel side includes Tom Donohoe and former Jacksonville GM Dave Caldwell.

If the Eagles want to stay with the same setup front-office flow chart, the next in line behind Cunningham is senior director of college scouting Anthony Patch.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.