FOXBORO — Head coach Bill Belichick understood what the Patriots were up against when the Ravens signed rookie Malik Cunningham away.
The Ravens signed Cunningham off of the Patriots’ practice squad and onto their 53-man roster on Tuesday. Belichick said Wednesday morning that the Patriots did attempt to keep Cunningham, who had been elevated from the practice squad onto the game-day roster in each of their last two games.
“Yeah, but I think they sold him on the opportunity of the offense. He and (Ravens QB) Lamar (Jackson),” Belichick said. “Certainly, their offense suits Malik better than probably any other offense in the league does. It makes sense – as a quarterback.”
Cunningham, like Jackson, played quarterback at Louisville. The two players overlapped with the Cardinals during the 2017 season, when Jackson was coming off of a Heisman Trophy-winning season and Cunningham was redshirting as a true freshman. Jackson, 26, and Cunningham, 25, both have elite mobility at quarterback, which the Ravens utilize in their offense.
Cunningham started at quarterback with Louisville for four seasons but converted to wide receiver during Patriots organized team activities and minicamp. He began taking quarterback snaps during training camp and played both wide receiver and quarterback during the preseason. Cunningham primarily practiced at wide receiver during the season but did back up then-starting quarterback Mac Jones in the Patriots’ Week 6 loss to the Raiders when he was signed to the 53-man roster but waived later and re-added to the practice squad.
Cunningham did not receive a snap while elevated from the practice squad in Weeks 13 and 14 when Bailey Zappe started at quarterback despite taking snaps at QB during practice.
The only stat Cunningham registered in Week 6 was a sack for a 5-yard loss.
He joins Jackson, Tyler Huntley and Josh Johnson on the Ravens’ quarterback depth chart. Cunningham also goes from a 3-10 team that has been eliminated from playoff contention in the Patriots to the AFC’s current No. 1 seed in the 10-3 Ravens.