Patriots UDFA Signing: Malik Cunningham, QB (?), Louisville
- Thread starter bsj
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Could someone explain the negative aspects of this guy from a scouting perspective? Like, any glaring limitations or deficiency? From a super small school with poor competition? After the success of Edelman I would have thought any qb with intriguing traits like this would at least have been scooped up by someone with a 6th or 7th round pick.
Sorry if this has been explained already, I scanned the thread and didn't see it.
Sorry if this has been explained already, I scanned the thread and didn't see it.
throwing 70 picks in college with a pretty low yards per attempt average doesn't help. i haven't watched him enough to have an informed opinion but lots of accuracy issues on easy throws as well apparently. here's hoping he proves the haters wrong and is awesome!
He threw 70 TDs vs 29 picks for his collegiate career, though your point about low ypa is not wrong.
Well shows what i get for looking at the wrong column. maybe the first clue i was wrong should have been 70 PICKS
The downfall with Cunningham is whether his arm can be NFL-caliber in terms of accuracy and if he can run more of a pro-style offense. However, if BOB is installing more and more RPO and other elements of a spread-style offense then his transition to the NFL can be easier. We obviously have to see him against 1st team defenses, but the first look at him was very positive. That throw to Tre Nixon in the end zone was an absolute dime.
The fact that you didn't bat an eye at that number, though, speaks volumes. He threw a lot of picks.
Thanks for the defense and he throws a lot of picks but still my post was absolutely idiotic.
Also, if he's intended to be a WR/QB who is used situationally at QB, the arm is less of an issue.
Exactly. Edelman doesn't have an NFL caliber arm, but he threw a pretty nice ball to Amendola against the Ravens in the playoffs. Cunningham would be great for trick plays like that, but of course, he actually probably could do more than that too.
Right. Meyers has a couple of TD passes, too. But Cunningham seems like a guy who could be a change of pace QB for the occasional series, which neither Meyers nor Edelman ever did.
He’s no Mac Jones, I’ll say that much. ;-)
I mean, the thing about Cunningham is that he’s really the first speed guy at QB that Belichick has considered (Michael Bishop doesn’t count). For 20 years it didn’t make sense to even contemplate the idea given that you had the GOAT under center (I always thought Payton was potentially dumb to take Brees off the field in NOLA for Hill).
Now, at a time when the league has pretty significantly moved away from pocket passers to mobile QBs—even the Allens and Herberts can run—it’s exciting, as Pat McAfee said on his show the other day, for Bill to be considering installing a package for a guy like Cunningham.
It makes sense for all the obvious reasons: their red zone struggles last year, the need (at least at present) to kind of hide Mac’s shortcomings or at least supplement them in creative ways. And with BOB on board, you have a coordinator who Bill not only trusts but who also just completed a college sojourn where he might’ve picked up an RPO trick or two.
At this point tho, it’s not clear this is any more than when Bill gave Tebow a cursory look in 2013. I’m as excited as anyone but let’s wait to see another preseason game or two from Cunningham and, perhaps more importantly how he does in joint practices before we dream too hard on the guy.
I'm not a fan of the comparison. Cunningham was a significantly better QB than Edelman coming out of college, and he also faced much better competition (ACC vs MAC). I have no idea if he can become anything close to the level of WR that Edelman was - most high end athletes that were WR's in college don't end up as good as Edelman, let alone undrafted QB's, so I doubt it.
Either way, Cunningham is too good at QB to be a "once every few games" gadget player. If you really want to shoot the moon and cross your fingers trying to hit his ceiling, it has to be done as a QB. He isn't the first good athlete that can throw a football, so the idea that putting him at WR or RB for trick plays will be some huge boost for the offense is probably misguided.
Let the kid stay at QB and see if you can turn him into a good decision maker. If he even becomes competent managing a football game, he already boosts the teams floor and ceiling higher than Mac Jones probably ever could. A game manager with his speed and agility? I'd be all for it.
Either way, Cunningham is too good at QB to be a "once every few games" gadget player. If you really want to shoot the moon and cross your fingers trying to hit his ceiling, it has to be done as a QB. He isn't the first good athlete that can throw a football, so the idea that putting him at WR or RB for trick plays will be some huge boost for the offense is probably misguided.
Let the kid stay at QB and see if you can turn him into a good decision maker. If he even becomes competent managing a football game, he already boosts the teams floor and ceiling higher than Mac Jones probably ever could. A game manager with his speed and agility? I'd be all for it.
One of the interesting things that I heard recently was that for a lot of teams in the NFL these days, one thing that makes them have a good running game is the ability of the QB to run too. Not that we want to become a wishbone offense, but it would help Rhamondre, for example, if the QB could also run. Then an RPO becomes much more effective. Now the defensive end has to decide whether to crash on the RB or stick with the QB who could take it to the outside. Plus the threat of a pass. Mac runs a fine RPO in that he historically has completed passes at a high rate on these plays. But Cunningham would add that extra dimension that would really make it hard to defend. Who are you going to commit to as the DE? Rhamondre or Malik? Not an easy choice. The DE will get it right once in a while, but lots of times, especially if Cunningham gets better at ball handling and decision making, the DE will get it wrong and it will be a big play.
My recollection was that Tebow had neither the willingness nor the acumen to play other positions. From what I've read, at least that does not seem to be a problem with Cunningham.
Mine is the former, not the latter. I'm not sure that he ever tried playing another skill position, although he definitely was asked.
No one recalls the "Tebow as TE" era?
Tim Tebow tried tight end and wasn’t good per former teammate (usatoday.com)
Tim Tebow - Jacksonville Jaguars tight end - ESPN
Tim Tebow tried tight end and wasn’t good per former teammate (usatoday.com)
Tim Tebow - Jacksonville Jaguars tight end - ESPN
Yeah, I was talking about Tebow at QB which Bill def. explored, including most of the final preseason game that year (which I went to). He just wasn’t dynamic enough in the NFL to be a Hill-type guy you bring in for goal line situations – esp. w Brady under center.
I agree that the Edelman comparison isn’t really apt with Cunningham. For one, Edelman was never contemplated as a QB as far as I know. Secondly, the game has changed a ton since 2009. For instance, and to @BaseballJones ‘ point, the mobile quarterback creates space for the RB in today’s game.
Again, I think it’s worth pumping the brakes a bit with Cunningham – both because it’s early but also because Belichick has yet to have really shown he’s interested in this kind of offense. As always I’m mostly intrigued to see what Bill does.
I agree that the Edelman comparison isn’t really apt with Cunningham. For one, Edelman was never contemplated as a QB as far as I know. Secondly, the game has changed a ton since 2009. For instance, and to @BaseballJones ‘ point, the mobile quarterback creates space for the RB in today’s game.
Again, I think it’s worth pumping the brakes a bit with Cunningham – both because it’s early but also because Belichick has yet to have really shown he’s interested in this kind of offense. As always I’m mostly intrigued to see what Bill does.
Bill basically ran that offense with Cam Newton, as much as we'd like to forget that season. The designed runs for Cunningham looked a lot like the plays they ran for Cam. I think Bill is on top of these developments, he just hasn't had the right personnel to pull it off.
