FOXBORO, Mass. — For 3 1/2 quarters Thursday night, the New England Patriots’ preseason opener was an offensive slog.
O-line play was poor. The run game was nonexistent. You could count the number of first downs on one hand.
Then, Malik Cunningham happened.
After seeing a handful of nondescript snaps at wide receiver earlier in the game, the undrafted rookie entered the game at quarterback midway through the fourth quarter and immediately ignited the Patriots’ offense.
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Cunningham’s first drive as an NFL signal-caller was a 14-play, 75-yard march that culminated in the only touchdown New England scored in its 20-9 exhibition loss to the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.
“Coach told me to go to quarterback, and I had no touchdowns,” Cunningham said after the game. “So I told the O-line we were going to go down and score, and we did.”
Nearly half of those 75 yards came on Cunningham keepers. He carried five times for 34 yards, culminating in a 9-yard touchdown run that featured a downright disrespectful juke.
Athleticism and ball-carrying ability were Cunningham’s calling cards in college. He racked up 32 rushing touchdowns over his final two seasons at Louisville and led all FBS QBs with 1,031 rushing yards in 2021.
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Cunningham also was efficient as a passer in his limited opportunities, going 3-for-4 for 19 yards. His lone incompletion: a well-placed ball to Tre Nixon in the end zone that bounced off the wide receiver’s hands and should have been caught for a touchdown.
“He did a nice job,” head coach Bill Belichick said. “Showed some poise out there, some toughness. Moved the team. That was nice. He did a nice job.”
Context is important when evaluating Cunningham’s promising debut, which instantly began generating feverish hot takes on social media and sports talk radio. This was one drive in the fourth quarter of a preseason game. The Texans also were one of the worst teams in football last season, and Cunningham was going against their third-string defense. Anyone saying the 24-year-old is going to make a run at Mac Jones’ starting job needs to relax.
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That being said, the Patriots obviously are intrigued by Cunningham. That was clear when they signed him immediately after the 2023 NFL Draft and gave him the most guaranteed money ($200,000) in franchise history for a UDFA. He hasn’t popped as a receiver — his primary position in practice until this week — but as a quarterback, he can offer the kind of mobility and playmaking prowess that Jones and Bailey Zappe can’t replicate.
Cunningham’s teammates seem to be pulling for him.
“Malik is a young guy who comes in every day, super humble, works hard at practice,” veteran safety Jalen Mills said. “You see him give max effort, and that’s kind of what you want to see from young guys. He kind of made the transition from quarterback to receiver and now making it a little bit back to quarterback. So just to see that and him execute at a good level and get in the end zone, you can’t do nothing but be happy for a young guy like that.”
Added second-year receiver Tyquan Thornton: “I know a lot of guys in this room have high hopes for him. I was just excited to see him out there.”
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How the Patriots deploy Thornton in next week’s joint practices with the Green Bay Packers will be telling. Will he continue practicing as a receiver with a side of QB work? Or will he begin training full-time with Jones, Zappe and Trace McSorley?
Cunningham said pulling double duty hasn’t been an issue for him because he’s “a very clever, smart kid,” but his path to playing time as a change-of-pace, run-focused quarterback seems to be much clearer than it is at wideout, where he currently resides near the bottom of the depth chart.
Either way, his progress in the weeks before cutdown day now will become one of the most fascinating storylines of the Patriots preseason.
Featured image via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images
