FOXBORO — Head coach Bill Belichick understood what the Patriots had been up towards when the Ravens signed rookie Malik Cunningham away.
The Ravens signed Cunningham off of the Patriots’ follow squad and onto their 53-man roster on Tuesday. Belichick mentioned Wednesday morning that the Patriots did try to preserve Cunningham, who had been elevated from the follow squad onto the game-day roster in every of their final two video games.
“Yeah, but I think they sold him on the opportunity of the offense. He and (Ravens QB) Lamar (Jackson),” Belichick mentioned. “Certainly, their offense suits Malik better than probably any other offense in the league does. It makes sense – as a quarterback.”
Cunningham, like Jackson, performed quarterback at Louisville. The two gamers overlapped with the Cardinals through the 2017 season, when Jackson was coming off of a Heisman Trophy-winning season and Cunningham was redshirting as a real freshman. Jackson, 26, and Cunningham, 25, each have elite mobility at quarterback, which the Ravens make the most of of their offense.
Cunningham began at quarterback with Louisville for 4 seasons however transformed to vast receiver throughout Patriots organized staff actions and minicamp. He started taking quarterback snaps throughout coaching camp and performed each vast receiver and quarterback through the preseason. Cunningham primarily practiced at vast receiver through the season however did again up then-starting quarterback Mac Jones within the Patriots’ Week 6 loss to the Raiders when he was signed to the 53-man roster however waived later and re-added to the follow squad.
Cunningham didn’t obtain a snap whereas elevated from the follow squad in Weeks 13 and 14 when Bailey Zappe began at quarterback regardless of taking snaps at QB throughout follow.
The solely stat Cunningham registered in Week 6 was a sack for a 5-yard loss.
He joins Jackson, Tyler Huntley and Josh Johnson on the Ravens’ quarterback depth chart. Cunningham additionally goes from a 3-10 staff that has been eradicated from playoff competition within the Patriots to the AFC’s present No. 1 seed within the 10-3 Ravens.
Source: www.bostonherald.com