Getty The Baltimore Ravens are going to a look at Malik Cunningham at wide recevier
The Baltimore Ravens seem to really like Louisville quarterbacks.
Their starting QB and the star of their team is Lamar Jackson, who started 34 games for the Cardinals from 2015 to 2017.
Last season, they added another former Louisville QB to their depth chart.
They picked up Malik Cunningham, who played QB for the Cardinals from 2018 to 2022.
Unfortunately for Cunningham, there is only room for one former Louisville QB to get snaps under center, which could lead to him playing a different role in Baltimore.
During a press conference on April 9, head coach John Harbaugh revealed that the team is taking a look at Cunningham as a wide receiver.
“That’s a good question. I think it remains to be seen. We’re going to take a look at him and see how he does and just get to know him better and evaluate him. He’s definitely developmental as a quarterback. He’s developmental as wide receiver, too. But he’s a good athlete. He’s a good person. He’s a competitive guy and he wants to do well.”
Cunningham’s Dynamic College Career
During his college football career, Cunningham’s arm was far from his only weapon.
In fact, he had more rushing attempts than pass attempts during his redshirt freshman season at Louisville.
Cunningham’s 2018 season saw him complete 40 of 67 pass attempts for 473 yards and a touchdown. He ran the ball 79 times for 497 yards and 5 touchdowns.
The following year saw him take over as the team’s starting quarterback. In his first year as a the starter, Cunningham brought his completion percentage up to 62.6% while throwing for 2065 yards and 22 touchdowns.
He also ran for 482 yards and 6 TDs.
His improvements continued in 2020. Cunningham threw for 2617 yards and ran for another 609 in his second season as the Cardinals’ starting QB.
He hit his peak in 2021. In his fifth season at Louisville, Cunningham threw for 2941 yards and 19 touchdowns and ran for a staggering 1034 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Unfortunately, he took a bit of a step back in his final college season. Cunningham was only able to throw for 1568 yards and run for 560 with 20 touchdowns in 10 games.
That step back may have been costly for his draft stock as Cunningham ended up going undrafted, but that wasn’t the end of his pursuit of a spot in the NFL.
His Path to the Ravens
After not being drafted, Cunningham ended up being signed by the Patriots to join a quarterback room that had some major question marks during the 2023 offseason.
He spent the preseason in Foxborough and got a bit of playing time all over the field.
Cunningham was mostly used under center. In his preseason debut against the Texans, he completed 3 of his 4 passing attempts for 19 yards and added 5 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown.
He also lined up at receiver 10 times in the game. The performance led to Cunningham drawing a comparison to Taysom Hill.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much more of Cunningham being used as a gadget player.
He was used scarcely for the other two preseason games and actually ended up being released alongside fellow QB Bailey Zappe before the start of the regular season.
Both were brought back before the team’s first game.
Cunningham eventually made it to the active roster, but not for long. He was signed to a three-year contract and played 5 snaps for the Patriots, but was released again 10 days after signing his deal.
That still wasn’t the end of his time with Pats as they brought him back to the practice squad the next day.
The Ravens eventually brought this roller coaster to an end signing him from the Pats’ practice squad in December.
Cunningham didn’t play much, but got 4 snaps in the season finale against the Steelers.
Now he is heading into his second season with the team, but it looks like he may need to change positions to keep his spot in Baltimore.
The team doesn’t have much of a need at QB with Jackson at the top of their depth chart and they already have Josh Johnson as his backup.
However, they are a bit thinner at receiver.
Maybe a position change is what he needs to start getting some real playing time in the NFL.
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