Patriots’ Week 6 Handling Of Malik Cunningham Hard To Figure Out

LAS VEGAS — Malik Cunningham was the Patriots’ top backup quarterback Sunday, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he was prepared, warmed up and used for the Week 6 matchup.

The undrafted rookie, who was signed from the practice squad to the 53-man roster on Saturday, took just six snaps in New England’s 21-17 road loss to the Raiders. All that talk of a Taysom Hill-like package resulted in zero carries, zero passes and one sack. In fact, Sunday’s game — and Cunningham’s comments afterward — offered even more proof that the Patriots view him as a receiver despite his background as a college QB.

During a postgame conversation in the Patriots locker room, Cunningham revealed he found out Tuesday that he would be signed to the roster and serve as Mac Jones’ top backup QB in Week 6. That must mean that Cunningham, who’s focused on receiver and kick returner since arriving in New England, spent more time than usual in quarterback meetings this week, right?

“No, not really,” he said.

Cunningham did say he saw more practice reps at quarterback, which lines up with a Sunday morning report from ESPN’s Mike Reiss. He also admitted the all-phases workload was difficult.

“It was a lot thrown at me, but it wasn’t nothing that I couldn’t handle,” he said. “So, I feel like I approached it well.”

Now, let’s go over Sunday’s warmups.

Cunningham spent the initial, informal workout period catching passes, getting loose and playing long toss with Bailey Zappe. He did absolutely nothing that made him look like a quarterback.

Malik Cunningham and Bailey Zappe playing catch during warmups pic.twitter.com/ELJYsk2wOX

— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) October 15, 2023

During full-team workouts roughly an hour before kickoff, Cunningham began by catching kicks with other returners. He also caught some passes while Jones and Zappe did all the QB-specific work at midfield, the same as any other week.

Honestly, it looked like Cunningham didn’t know what to do. At one point, it appeared as if assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein laughingly told him it was OK to throw some passes.

Kind of a funny moment during Patriots warmups.

Malik Cunningham wasn't doing any QB work, with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe throwing at midfield like normal.

It looked like assistant QBs coach Evan Rothstein then went up to Cunningham and jokingly reminded him to throw a bit pic.twitter.com/XxLeiIOMWf

— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) October 15, 2023

But Cunningham didn’t throw any real passes. He just played some catch. Afterward, he ran some practice routes while catching passes from Jones and Zappe.

Then, when the Patriots convened for full-squad warmups, Jones saw the only quarterback work while Cunningham repped at receiver. Zappe, who was the emergency third QB, didn’t get any work during the walkthrough.

So, what gives? Why didn’t the Patriots’ only backup quarterback do any quarterbacking before kickoff?

Well, apparently, New England had Cunningham warm up in the halls and in the locker room in an attempt to maintain the element of surprise.

“I was already loosening in here,” Cunningham said. “They wanted to just keep it as low-key as possible, but once we went out there as a team, I warmed up a little bit.”

When asked for additional information, Cunningham paused for a moment. It seemed as if he wanted to choose his words carefully.

“No, I really was just getting my shoulder worked on,” he said. “So, when I went outside, I was just catching a little bit and throwing a little bit.”

That approach would make sense if Cunningham’s status surprised anyone.

But the Patriots signed Cunningham to the active roster Saturday and announced him as the backup QB roughly 90 minutes before kickoff. And in the days prior, the Patriots leaked intel on a planned Cunningham package to reporters and Bill Belichick said he was “trending” toward playing.

Everyone knew Cunningham was going to get some playing time Sunday. And you didn’t need to go full-galaxy brain to imagine what it could look like.

While New England’s handling of Cunningham is both interesting and confusing, what really matters is what it plans for him going forward. And Belichick doesn’t seem ready to commit to him as the permanent backup quarterback.

“We had a lot of guys that were hurt,” Belichick said Sunday when asked why Cunningham was signed and made the backup.

“We just got through the game here,” he said Monday when asked whether Cunningham will have the same job in Week 7. “Talk about next week’s game plan and all that, it’s not even close to that.”

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Cunningham seems genuinely open to doing whatever the Patriots ask of him. But he also sounds like someone who is focused on developing as a wideout

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been working at receiver,” he said. “I do a little bit at quarterback. And then this week we did more — I did more quarterback stuff but still doing special teams and receiver, so it’s kind of like balancing it.”

That brings us back to Zappe.

Ultimately, this entire Cunningham story says more about Zappe than anyone or anything else. The Patriots were so over the Zappe experience that they preferred their backup QB be a receiver who neither prepared nor warmed up like someone who could be forced to play quarterback for an entire NFL game. Having Cunningham run around and line up in wildcat formations was preferable to putting Zappe back under center.

The second round of “Malik Mania” might’ve started with a dud, but “Zappe Fever” finally was vanquished Sunday. Herd immunity worked.

Of course, knowing the Patriots, they could reverse course Sunday when Jones likely will start against the Buffalo Bills. Zappe could be the top backup with Will Grier the emergency third QB and Cunningham a healthy scratch.

That would make about as much sense as their plan for Cunningham last week.