The Patriots Seem to Have Found Malik Cunningham's True Position: All of Them. Including QB.
When Bill Belichick signed Malik Cunningham as a UDFA out of Louisville on a 3-year, $2.7 million deal, it was hard to know what to make of it. Other than the move was part of an overall effort to make his team faster and more athletic which began with drafting some of the fastest players at their positions (WR Tyquan Thornton, CB/KR Marcus Jones, RB Pierre Strong Jr) last year. This is from Cunningham's NFL.com draft profile, which projected him - quite accurately - as a priority free agent:
Dual-threat quarterback who was much more effective as a runner than he was as a passer in 2022. Cunningham's build is slighter than teams typically like at quarterback, and his accuracy is spotty. He possesses premium running talent for zone-read and quarterback draws, and he can turn a lack of contain into a huge play with his legs. Teams will need to decide how Cunningham would fit into an offense, but his ability to make explosive plays with his legs should not be discounted.
As such, it was impossible not to read that and not see Cunningham being raised in the Patriots system to convert from QB to WR and follow the glorious trail of success blazed by the mighty Julian Edelman. And that is how they've been developing him all throughout camp. Until Thursday night. When the coaches put him under center and everyone in the country took notice of what he did. Including the best dual-threat quarterback in the game, Lamar Jackson:
Far be it for me to argue with an MVP. And to Cunningham's credit, there didn't seem to be any spottiness to his accuracy on this full-sprint rollout that he put right between the meaty parts of Tre Nixon's thumbs:
But virtually all the rest of Cunningham's snaps were RPOs from the same 2X1 formation. This wasn't a simplified version of the Pats playbook; it was a note card with like four bullet points on it. Look, I'm happy Bill O'Brien is getting onboard the RPO train. It's long overdue around here. (Mac Jones ran it with success at Alabama and yet neither of his previous coordinators in New England incorporated any of the concepts into their schemes.) And clearly it played to Cunningham's strengths.
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Which begged the question of how they'll utilize his skillset going forward. And at practice yesterday, Belichick and O'Brien took a giant toward answering it:
Source - Cunningham did a little of everything. He caught passes, took snaps under center, and was also used as a kick returner for the first time. And at different points in practice, he stopped for chats with running back Rhamondre Stevenson, receiver DeVante Parker, and assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein.
In other words, he was in all the right spots.
Wearing a white jersey, Cunningham first warmed up with the receivers, catching passes from Zappe and McSorley during non-competitive drills. But right before Belichick blew his whistle to get the players off the field for a short stretch due to lightning in the area, the undrafted rookie was at quarterback, standing in shotgun formation.
David Andrews was his center. Parker was out wide to his left. JuJu Smith-Schuster was to his right.
Which is notable because it meant Cunningham was working with the starters, which is a first for him at QB. Moving on:
At the very least, the Patriots are putting together a package of plays that will utilize Cunningham’s dual threat ability at quarterback perhaps on short yardage, but mostly likely in the red zone. Cunningham … didn’t throw a pass during the handful of snaps he took on Sunday.
That's the major key to take away from this. While we all might have spent the weekend with our minds filled with erotic fantasies of constantly rolling pockets and laser-guided missiles delivered right on target to suddenly undefended receivers like we see every week with Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, Cunningham did not attempt a pass in practice. You know threw gobs and gobs of them? The actual QB1, and his QB2:
The point being, let's slow our roll on any talk of Malik Cunningham as the quarterback. He may be A quarterback. A play here or there to throw a defense off balance. Especially if they're becoming blitz-happy. Line him up wide and then motion him to the shotgun while Jones shifts to the spot, the way Sean Payton started doing with Taysom Hill (who I think is Cunningham's most accurate comp). But that is a constraint play. Something designed to keep an opponent honest. It is not a system. Just bear in mind that in 287 career passing attempts, Hill has 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Whereas Mohamed Sanu has four TDs and no picks in just seven attempts. Because Hill is not a quarterback. He's a multitool. An all-purpose guy.
So, it would appear, is Cunningham. Believe me, I'm as excited to see what he's capable of as anybody. Give O'Brien a moveable chess piece who's capable of making people miss the way Cunningham is and I can't wait to see the way he weaponizes the rookie. And that's apparently what they're doing in practice. Just knock off the "QB1" nonsense before you embarrass yourself. That job is filled.