View: https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1713280059975344225?s=46
Feels like Mac is going to be on a very short leash this week
Feels like Mac is going to be on a very short leash this week
The Adventures of Malik Cunningham
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
What's the corresponding move. Judon to IR (as this is a 53 man move, not just a game day elevation)?
Probably true, but based on what he showed in preseason as a WR, he looked absolutely lost. Hard to believe he went from that to a 3 year contract as a wideout…hope here is that it’s more as a QB.
This seems weird - I wonder if a team was trying to sign Malik.
They are thin at WR at the moment with Douglas and Juju out, so he coukld help there, but they could just elevate him of this were strictly about short term depth.
I think he's here as a WR but also they want to put in a package of plays he can run as QB.\
View: https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1713284292762112411?s=20
Albert Breer: New England had packages for Malik Cunningham at both quarterback and receiver in practice this week. So they could get creative in how they use him vs. Vegas.
Yep. Mac is going to start but Cunningham will get some snaps.
They are thin at WR at the moment with Douglas and Juju out, so he coukld help there, but they could just elevate him of this were strictly about short term depth.
I think he's here as a WR but also they want to put in a package of plays he can run as QB.\
View: https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1713284292762112411?s=20
Albert Breer: New England had packages for Malik Cunningham at both quarterback and receiver in practice this week. So they could get creative in how they use him vs. Vegas.
Yep. Mac is going to start but Cunningham will get some snaps.
I don't care if they see him as a WR, QB1 or their starting LT. This team needs to do something different. I don't know if this counts as that but why not?
3 year deal with basically no guarantees is what UDFA usually get. If he develops team gets him for 3 years cheap, if he doesn't they can cut him at any point for no future money
Almost certainly, as an example... Zappe got a 3 year deal when he re-signed off the PS.. No future guarantees
This is worth reading. BB said more than he normally does.
Others have noted BB’s praise for Cunningham’s improvement as a receiver. He also described him as “competent” as a QB, which I took as a sign that BB considers him an option if Mac continues to flounder.
I watched a ton of Louisville. I still think he can play QB. But glad to see him doing something at least.
This needs to happen. His running ability is next level. He might actually be able to escape the quickly disappearing pocket our o line produces. RPO and play action for days. The team will rally around this kid. Hell, all of New England will rally around this kid. It’s a glimmer of hope.
Is he going to be used like the Pittsburgh version of Antwaan Randel-El here?
The three year deal doesn’t say desperation. It says they are confident in his progression. I’m intrigued. If he starts to get snaps at least there will be a reason to watch now.
Edit: Goid points above about the probability of no contractual guarantees going forward.
The three year deal doesn’t say desperation. It says they are confident in his progression. I’m intrigued. If he starts to get snaps at least there will be a reason to watch now.
Edit: Goid points above about the probability of no contractual guarantees going forward.
I like when BB gets all “items a little too early for an induction ceremony” when he talks. I feel like when BB minimizes how good someone on the team is, it means he thinks he has something there.
My heart says yes, but head says these are the minds that brought us Mac Jones, Nelson Agholor, Mohammed Sanu, N'Keal Harry, and Bailey Zappe.
Make losing interesting, at least. And if interesting is too strong of an adjective, make losing different. Throw shit at the wall.
Or.... they like the player they have an open roster spot, why not sign him and see what he can do as a WR and gadget guy
He's not being signed to play QB full-time, they made that really clear many, many times
Yeah, Miguel speculates this is just a 2+ year UDFa deal for the minimum, which he estimates as 2023 $750k prorated, 2024 915k, 2025 1.03m. Just avoiding going through the ERFA process each year. Not sure when Miguel will update but Pats are now really low on cap space for the rest of the year. Maybe $2m? Any new player will be at least $750k pro-rated, and practice squad elevations will be tens of thousands in any week they do it.
If the Pats are losing big, or Mac is playing horribly tomorrow, why NOT give him a look? Zappe is never going to be the answer.
Malik would certain open up a lot of gadget play possibilities. They haven't run many this year.
Nothing is wasted if you learn. The Patriots have learned this season that Bailey Zappe is not the guy. Hell, he probably isn't even just another guy.
Mac Jones almost certainly isn't the guy.
With nothing to lose it's time to learn what they have in Cunningham.
The idea that you just throw in a guy who didn't get drafted as a QB, nobody else wanted to sign as a QB, and has been practicing primarily as a WR to...... see what you have is just silly. That's not how teams run, you're more likely to see Grier active and thrown in if Mac struggles.
Playing Mac is what you have to do, he's clearly the best QB on the roster, he was in pre-season, he was an ok QB for 2 full seasons (not good, but clearly an NFL QB), you can't have a culture based around hard work and accountability if the coaches are throwing in CUnningham as anything other than a gimmick guy, that's contrary to everything a good organization does.
Playing Mac is what you have to do, he's clearly the best QB on the roster, he was in pre-season, he was an ok QB for 2 full seasons (not good, but clearly an NFL QB), you can't have a culture based around hard work and accountability if the coaches are throwing in CUnningham as anything other than a gimmick guy, that's contrary to everything a good organization does.
Yup, I wouldn't mind seeing the kid get a look, especially at WR, because at least he has some NFL skills with the ball in his hands, but BB could just as likely be trying to play head games with Josh, and trying to make him spend time preparing for something that might not happen.
Well, the good news is this is not at all a good organization right now, so they're more than welcome to try whatever they can.
Yeah, and on the small chance Malik May some day be a good NFL QB, throwing him into the fire could screw him up.
It's a bad team, it's a well run organization.
I get that people forget because we had the greatest 2 decade run in the history of American sports basically, but a couple .500ish seasons and what looks like it's going to be a bad year is.... pretty standard, and it always looks ugly. Every team has a stretch where the drafts and FA signings have too many misses, every team has the occasional brain drain issue.
Wouldn't practice squad guys have salaries too low to figure into any cap calculations?
I've seen a number of your posts throughout this board lately to this effect, and while I understand your thought process, I don't think you're grasping just how bad and deep this problem is. There is nothing standard about how bad this team is right now, it's fundamentally poor of talent.
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I grasp it quite well... this team is bad. It's not any worse than some of the other bad teams both this and previous years. It's also probably better positioned than most to fix it should they get a high pick. People acting like this team is so devoid of talent that it's unprecedented are just being hysterical. They're lacking WR talent and they don't have a QB. The defense has a lot of talent, and they are set up to have a ton of cap space int he summer.
Go take a look at last year's Bears (or Texans), take a look at the Cardinals' roster this year, the 2021 Jags (and 2020) the 2020 Jets... this team blows away those teams in terms of talent on the roster and cap flexibility.
Now there is some reason to wonder if you trust the current guy in charge to use the picks/cap space effectively, but the actual situation is pretty normal... team loses star QB, top talent ages out slowly, they miss on FA signings and draft picks, then the bottom falls out and they have to hard re-set. Part of it is because they tried to do a hard reset in 2020 and 2021 and whiffed.
The Patriots will go into the offseason with a lot of holes, but a lot of ways to fill them, and not many bad deals on the books (Just Juju really), they have quite a bit of talent locked up on D, and on O they have some depth pieces. They probably won't be good next year either (though not impossible with the right moves and some luck), but they should be well on their way to a quick turnaround if they handle the offseason well..... whether they will is the question.
JFC what are you looking at or smoking to come to these conclusions?
You had me at "the Patriots will go into the offseason with a lot of holes"
I get it. You're one of the last people who thinks BB has tricks up his sleeve. There are a few posters left on here like that. They propose these fantastical ideas where BB runs the defense and someone else scores touchdowns. It's sad. They can't adapt any more than him.
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I’m sure McDaniels is shaking in his boots with the prospect of facing Malik Cunningham and the vaunted Patriots offense.
I think he almost has to be- on Friday they had downgraded 7 people to out. So with the PS elevations, that leaves them at what… 49 for the 46+EQB game day roster?
Of the seven people they downgraded to out, one was Matt Judon who has since been put on IR, one is Cody Davis who is still working his way back from PUP and not on the active roster, and one is Tyrone Wheatley who was also put on IR.
The Pats elevated Pharms (DT) and Reagor (WR) from the practice squad, signed Malik Cunningham (WR/QB), activated Tyquan Thornton.
Out for sure are Smith-Schuster, Douglas, Strange, and Reiff (the other 4 who had been downgraded).
Grier will likely be scratched and designated QB3.
Two others will need to be scratched. Since they now have 6 WR on the 53 or elevated (Parker, Bourne, Boutte, Thornton, Cunningham, Reagor) it seems likely that one of those could be scratched. Seems unlikely that Thornton, Cunningham, or Reagor would be scratched, since they all could have been left where they were for another week. Maybe Boutte?
That would leave one more slot.
Rapaport reporting Jones may have a short leash today. In light of the Cunningham move, that’s interesting. Maybe some additional signs he may be active.
https://www.nfl.com/news/patriots-qb-mac-jones-expected-to-be-on-short-leash-sunday-vs-raiders
https://www.nfl.com/news/patriots-qb-mac-jones-expected-to-be-on-short-leash-sunday-vs-raiders
You are a cartoonishly bad poster on this topic. Beating the same petulant, entitled , tiresome drum ad nauseam, in multiple threads. Your inability or unwillingness to accept the inevitable down cycle that teams have after a long run of success, without devolving into talk radio level noise about how “bad” the organization , and BB, supposedly are, reveals you to be the one not dealing in reality. It may be time to move on from Bill. Everything ends eventually. That’s a legit debate that can be had without your level of reactionary foolishness.