HEADLINES

Ian Cunningham Jaguars GM Frontrunner?

February 19th, 2025 at 9:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2025 GM carousel has spun for several weeks, but the Jaguars have been doing the only work here for the past few. Nearly a month after firing Trent Baalke during their coaching search, the Jags are winding down their process.

As second interviews have begun, one name has jumped out. Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham looks to have emerged as the frontrunner for this role, with Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz going so far as to saw this is his job to lose. In noting the Jaguars hope to have this position filled this weekend, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe mentions Cunningham as a candidate to watch down the stretch here. This may not be too surprising, as his name surfaced shortly after this job became open. Cunningham’s second interview is likely to take place today, per Schultz.

This is familiar territory for Cunningham, who was the runner-up for the Commanders’ GM job that went to Adam Peters last year. Cunningham also is a two-time finalist for the Titans’ GM post, conducting second interviews with the team in 2023 and ’25. A 2023 report also indicated Ryan Poles‘ top lieutenant turned down the Cardinals’ GM job, one Monti Ossenfort took. Despite the Bears yet to make the playoffs during the Poles-Cunningham regime, the latter is well-regarded around the league.

The Bears did not directly include Cunningham in the search that produced Ben Johnson last month, as Poles mentioned his AGM would have been a part of the search committee had he not been in the running for the Tennessee job. The Titans hired the Chiefs’ Mike Borgonzi to work alongside Brian Callahan (and under football ops president Chad Brinker, effectively).

This Jags post would come with potentially more responsibilities, but Liam Coen is widely viewed as the top power broker in Jacksonville post-Baalke. Coen commanded enough Jags interest that the team fired Baalke after he had led the HC search, and the one-and-done Buccaneers OC is believed to have landed a Johnson-level contract from the AFC South club. Johnson is earning upper-crust coaching money, at $13MM per year. New executive VP Tony Boselli will have a role in the post-Baalke front office as well. While the Hall of Fame tackle is not believed to be above Coen or the GM, he will play a key part here in being set to report to ownership.

If the Bears lose Cunningham, a candidate to watch will be tight end-turned-exec Jeff King. The team’s senior director of player personnel would likely be the man to succeed Cunningham to work with Poles and Johnson, per the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs. A Ryan Pace hire, King has been with the Bears throughout his personnel career, which began in 2015. Via PFR’s General Manager Search Tracker, here is how their process stands now that it is in the finalist stage:

NFL Trade Rumors: Chicago BearsJacksonville JaguarsIan CunninghamJeff King

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