FOXBORO — All it took was 15 snaps at the end of a preseason game, but Patriots fans have become enamored with undrafted rookie Malik Cunningham.
It’s understandable. In a game in which Mac Jones saw zero action and the offense looked lifeless with Bailey Zappe and Trace McSorley under center thanks in large part to an ineffective offensive line, Cunningham added life in Thursday night’s loss to the Houston Texans. The Patriots were suddenly playing much faster as Cunningham led the offense on their only touchdown-scoring drive, going 3-of-4 for 19 yards as a passer and leading the team with 34 rushing yards and a touchdown on five attempts.
After barely playing quarterback for most of the first two weeks of training camp as he continued a transition to wide receiver that started in the spring, Cunningham started taking more significant reps under center in the two practices proceeding Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans.
He looked like a natural, and those quarterback reps have continued into this week. The former Louisville QB has received five reps under center in each of the Patriots’ two practices since Thursday’s game.
The 6-foot-1, 198-pound offensive weapon actually took the first 11-on-11 reps in Sunday’s practice with the starting offensive line. He later received work in the red zone with backups.
All five of Cunningham’s snaps Monday interrupted starter Mac Jones’ cycles in 11-on-11s. Jones would start the drive. Then Cunningham would replace him, forcing the defense to identify that a new quarterback was in the huddle. Then after one or two snaps, Jones would re-enter the field. He’s attempted one pass over the last two days, and it fell incomplete.
Patriots wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster did say Sunday that Cunningham’s main focus is still at wide receiver. Cunningham, who’s officially listed on the roster as a quarterback, is not wearing a red non-contact jersey traditionally worn by QBs. Teammates have been impressed by the versatile rookie.
“He just does everything he’s asked to do,” safety Jabrill Peppers said Monday after practice. “He’s trying to do it to the best of his ability whether it’s receiver, quarterback, they got him playing gunner now. The more you can do, man. He’s definitely keeping his value.”
Cunningham’s best pass Thursday was dropped by wide receiver Tre Nixon. Peppers called it a “dot.”
So, what’s going on here? What are the Patriots doing with their highest-paid undrafted free agent in team history and how significant is this?
It’s never too early to start game planning for the regular season when contests actually count. The Patriots will get great work in over the next two weeks with joint practices and preseason games scheduled with the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans, but it seems the team is taking advantage of their alone time this week to potentially prepare for Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts finished fourth among quarterbacks in rushing yards last season, carrying the ball 123 times for 758 yards with 13 touchdowns. The Patriots will also face Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen twice this season plus potentially Washington Commanders QB Sam Howell, Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson, New York Giants QB Daniel Jones and Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson, all of whom can be dangerous with the ball in their hands as rushers.
It might be worth keeping Cunningham on the 53-man roster for the first week of the regular season just to ensure the Patriots don’t lose a valuable scout-team option heading into Week 1 against the Eagles. Cunningham isn’t taking traditional reps under center, and it’s important for the Patriots defense to get these reps as early as possible.
The Patriots lost all four games in which they faced mobile quarterbacks last season. Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson carried the ball 11 times for 107 yards with a rushing touchdown in a 37-26 Week 3 win over the Patriots. Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields also carried the ball 11 times with a touchdown and 82 yards in a surprise 33-14 win over the Patriots in Week 7. The Bears didn’t win a game for the rest of the season. Allen and the Bills beat the Patriots twice. Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray started Week 14 against the Patriots but suffered a season-ending injury three plays into the game.
But it’s clear the Patriots’ defense could use more work against mobile quarterbacks, and Cunningham finished his five-year career at Louisville with 347 carries for 3,713 yards with 50 touchdowns.
The second possibility is related to an underreported storyline early in training camp if only because it’s seemed insignificant up to this point, but McSorley has struggled as the Patriots’ third-string quarterback in practice and then went 1-of-3 for 4 yards against the Texans on Thursday. He also carried the ball once for 3 yards in two drives.
McSorley hasn’t received any work at quarterback in competitive drills over the last two practices.
The Patriots could be seeing if Cunningham is adept enough at quarterback to serve as their third-stringer behind Jones and Zappe. He doesn’t have traditional mechanics, and the Patriots would need to overhaul their offense if he did get playing time this season. But he’d be an exciting player to roster even if he was inserted mid-drive to give the Patriots’ offense a change of pace to run some read-option and RPOs.
The NFL passed a new rule allowing teams to dress a third “emergency” quarterback without making him active. It’s unclear how that rule would work for the Patriots if Cunningham continues to work with wide receivers and if the team would want to integrate him into game plans. The emergency QB can only enter a game if the two active quarterbacks are injured. If one of the active quarterbacks gets medically cleared, then the emergency quarterback would be removed from the game.
So, if Cunningham is made the emergency QB, the Patriots couldn’t insert him into the game on designed plays. The Patriots could potentially make Zappe their emergency quarterback, but that would mean relying on Cunningham to be Jones’ top backup in case of an injury, which would be a major risk.
It’s tough to say where this experiment goes moving forward, because a lot of it depends on how Cunningham continues to perform. He’s still taking drills at wide receiver, but that could change if the Patriots feel he’s adept enough to serve as the third-string quarterback. His growth at wide receiver will be stunted by the reps he receives at quarterback.
It’s too early to be talking about Cunningham as anything more than a gadget player, third-string quarterback or continued wide receiver convert. He’s not even guaranteed a roster spot if he can’t continue this trajectory and make more positive steps over the next month before the Patriots play the Eagles on Sept. 10.
But it’s a fun storyline and one that should continue to evolve on a day-to-day basis.