Last night, the New England Patriots hosted the Houston Texans for their first pre-season game. The Pats lost 20-9 to the Texans, but one player shined in the second half. Undrafted free agent Malik Cunningham signed with New England shortly after the 2023 Draft.
On their current depth chart, he’s fourth at QB. However, the Patriots know that Cunningham has an elite level of talent and they’ve had him primarily playing at WR. During practices, he’s primarily been at WR, but he scored the Patriots’ only touchdown last night in their final drive as QB.
Malik Cunningham is a versatile athlete who can play WR and QB for the Patriots
Played WR in the first half. QB in the second half.
Malik Cunningham is doing everything he can for the @Patriots. @MalikMalikc10
📺: #HOUvsNE on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/bBFpXewtKp pic.twitter.com/dXR3ZHPI1v— NFL (@NFL) August 11, 2023
In college, Malik Cunningham played five seasons at Louisville as their starting QB. He had big shoes to fill after Lamar Jackson was the QB at Lousiville before him. Jackson was one of the most electric players in the sport. He won the Heisman in 2016 with the Cardinals. During five seasons at Louisville, Cunningham had 70 passing and 50 rushing touchdowns over 56 career games.
Playing two positions in college is hard, but trying to do it in the NFL as a rookie as in unheard of. Before he entered the game on the Patriots’ final drive last night, the team had not scored a touchdown yet. Cunningham got the offense together and told them they were going to drive down the field and score.
Malik Cunningham will be QB1 for the Pats by the end of the season 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/T7ljQ7dAju
— R4GE1929 (@R4GE1929) August 11, 2023
He led the Patriots on a 14-play, 75-yard drive to get the team at least one touchdown in their first pre-season game. Cunningham went 3-4 passing for 19 yards and also added 34 yards rushing. The 24-year-old praised his teammates and coaches for getting him ready to be able to play both WR and QB last night.
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