FOXBOROUGH – Coming off a dazzling performance in the preseason opener, most media eyes were trained on Malik Cunningham, and how the Patriots would deploy him during Sunday’s practice.
Would Bill Belichick just have Cunningham go back to being a receiver, even in wake of his scintillating debut against the Houston Texans as a quarterback late in the game? Might he split time between the two positions?
Or, would Belichick pull the plug on the switch to receiver and just have him at quarterback, giving him a red non-contact jersey alongside Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Trace McSorley?
After playing a game of “Where’s Waldo” with Cunningham during the rainy start to practice, and subsequent delay due to lightning, we got our answer.
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Cunningham did a little of everything. He caught passes, took snaps under center, and was also used as a kick returner for the first time. And at different points in practice, he stopped for chats with running back Rhamondre Stevenson, receiver DeVante Parker, and assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein.
In other words, he was in all the right spots.
Wearing a white jersey, Cunningham first warmed up with the receivers, catching passes from Zappe and McSorley during non-competitive drills. But right before Belichick blew his whistle to get the players off the field for a short stretch due to lightning in the area, the undrafted rookie was at quarterback, standing in shotgun formation.
David Andrews was his center. Parker was out wide to his left. JuJu Smith-Schuster was to his right.
When practice resumed, everything picked up where it left off. Cunningham was once again at quarterback with pretty much the same cast around him.
Given this was a non-padded practice, and a lighter session with the players in shirts and shells, his involvement in competitive team drills at quarterback could mean something , or nothing at all.
Let’s go with the former.
At the very least, the Patriots are putting together a package of plays that will utilize Cunningham’s dual threat ability at quarterback perhaps on short yardage, but mostly likely in the red zone. Cunningham, who played quarterback at Louisville but has been working toward a change to receiver, didn’t throw a pass during the handful of snaps he took on Sunday.
But the fact he was there at all spoke volumes.
And let’s be clear, this wasn’t about Cunningham leapfrogging Jones into the starter role, or Zappe as the backup. It also wasn’t about changing the offense.
It was more about the Patriots being intrigued enough by Cunningham’s performance, they want to see if they can use it to their advantage down the road, which is exactly what they should be doing. There’s no harm in seeing if he can be a gadget player, or red zone threat.
Watching Thursday night after Cunningham was inserted at quarterback, it was obvious the Texans couldn’t just automatically drop a second safety back in coverage and clog up throwing lanes, which is usually what happens when pocket passers Jones and Zappe are in the game.
Given Cunningham’s threat to run, that just opens up another can of worms for an opposing defense. Nothing is automatic. The Patriots should know all about that, given how much trouble they’ve had with mobile quarterbacks. But watching a Patriots quarterback do that to another team seemed almost revolutionary.
So moving ahead, Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who had Deshaun Watson in Houston and Bryce Young at Alabama, had Cunningham run a series of plays in Sunday’s practice, to get the ball rolling.
Let’s just say the Patriots can’t have enough wrinkles in the offense, and this is a good one to hitch their wagons to and see how it develops. Even the players love seeing Cunningham expanding his role, and providing a possible jolt to the offense.
“First off, let me just say it was great seeing him out there playing quarterback (against the Texans). He threw a dot to the back of the end zone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t caught (by Tre Nixon),” said safety Adrian Phillips. “But he’s a baller. You put him anywhere on the field, and he’s going to ball. You could probably put him at running back, and he’d make something happen.
“But now, seeing him in practice, it definitely adds another wrinkle to the offense that I love to see,” Phillips went on. “We see (dual-threat quarterbacks) so much throughout the season, we know how much it gives our defense a problem. Being able to practice against that every single day with a guy will help us out both offensively and defensively.”
Cunningham’s foray as a kick returner is also a sign the Patriots are trying to justify the possibility of giving him a spot on the 53-man roster. The more you can do, the better your chances of making that happen on a Belichick-coached team.
Beyond that, getting Cunningham in as a change-up at quarterback in certain situations, with a scripted package of plays, really seems like the way to go. Think Taysom Hill with the New Orleans Saints.
“I don’t make any of the decisions,” said Phillips, “but I’m with it, if they do it.”
Smith-Schuster also sounded like he was on board with inserting Cunningham into the offense on occasion.
“That dude is electric. When the football is in his hands as a quarterback, he’s a pretty dangerous player, as you could see Thursday night,” Smith-Schuster said following the workout. “He did it in college, so it’s like second nature to him to do that. I think he’s still trying to work on the receiver side, which he’s come a long way since OTAs … so he’s doing really well.”
Well enough that we saw an actual change-up in practice.
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