Malik Cunningham is the most intriguing quarterback prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft. He has the running ability of Lamar Jackson, but he acts as a quarterback that can run, not a running back that can throw. Being part of the most unique offense arguably in the country, Cunningham is the most difficult prospect to project to the next level, as no team in the NFL has the speed that Louisville uses to overwhelm its opponents. His surprising accuracy, countered by his scheme dependent decision making, combines with his athleticism to create the most confusing projection arguably in the history of the NFL draft at the quarterback position. In the right scheme with the correct coaching, Cunningham can become a lethal Swiss army knife.
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Player Bio
Name: Malik Cunningham
Jersey: #3
Position: Quarterback
School: Louisville
Class: Redshirt Junior
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 200 lbs
Accuracy (7.75/10)
Cunningham may be mistaken as a running thrower. With how amazing he is on the ground, that is an understandable misinterpretation. Cunningham has surprising accuracy, both from a clean pocket as well as on the move. His ball placement is hit or miss: 93 percent of the time, it is perfect, but Cunningham tends to underthrow balls the other seven percent. His accuracy on the move is surprisingly supreme. This will prove to be an excellent trait to transition to the NFL: he can do this with extremely fast weapons, meaning that he can pass to a small window at a noticeable distance from his target.
Arm Strength (6.5/10)
The arm strength of Cunningham is pretty standard fare. He can thread needles with a long windup and heavy hip rotation. Unless he has an elite separator, do not expect him to thread a needle on a slant with Eric Kendricks nearby (or any solid coverage linebacker, for that matter). Players like this will be able to detect this pass coming far too long before his release. His arm throws (off-platform where his legs cannot add extra propulsion to the throw) simply do not have the juice to fit into tight windows or make it beyond 15 yards, as was displayed multiple times against the Hurricanes. Of course, Cunningham has an adequate arm, or else his superweapon, Tutu Atwell, would be useless. He can throw the ball 50 yards downfield, but do not expect for a safety to not arrive before due to the mediocre ball speed at long distance.
Decision Making (4/10)
Cunningham can blame his offensive coordinator for this red flag, although some blame still deservedly falls on his shoulders. With a one-read, RPO based scheme, Cunningham has little room to steer clear of the play design and think for himself. When he does, all goes down the toilet, as the play rarely calls for anything but one read or running. Cunningham tries to play hero ball when the running lane closes off. When he does this, it leads to major head-scratching decisions like against Miami at the end of the second quarter. Cunningham attempted to thread the needle to a covered target and threw the pass behind him, leading to an easy sideline interception, which is another testament to his lack of velocity on his “arm” passes. The bottom line is that the offensive coordinator has taken the thinking out of his hands, which severely hurts Cunningham when he has to think for himself on a broken down play.
Progressions (4.5/10)
Cunningham’s greatest weakness is his lack of progressions each play. His Achilles heel may not be his fault, however: the combination of a lackluster line and unique scheme give Cunningham minute time to run through his progressions. Some of the plays seem to aid his desire to stare down his reads by adding a levels aspect to the play concept (having two identical routes at different “levels” of the field to make the defense commit to one of the two routes). The levels concept allows Cunningham to have one open target, and if he does not have one, he is far from shy to use his cheetah legs to punish the defense.
Mobility (10/10)
Is there a way to give Cunningham an 11/10? He is by far one of the most athletically talented players at the quarterback position. Cunningham has an insane burst and a stride few could imagine competing with. For those who say Trey Lance has great athleticism, they have never seen this rocket. In the correct scheme, Cunningham could be the Hoodini that Jackson has shown himself to be on the ground.
Poise (6.5/10)
Cunningham stands firm in the pocket and throws with confidence, even though his line is inferior and his legs are magical. His team rallies around this confidence by giving their all every play, and it shows. He keeps his eyes downfield at all times, even when scrambling. This said, his passer rating under pressure has shown to take a massive drop due to his panicking, which overshadows his poise in a clean pocket or on the move.
Pocket Awareness (6.25/10)
Cunningham has slightly above average pocket awareness. He can improve on moving through the pocket to gain extra time, but he generally is adequate in this department. His score maybe should be higher thanks to how horrible his line plays, but there are times where it appears as if Cunningham has no clue that a defender is charging at him. With his frame, he needs to be cognizant of this to last more than six games in the NFL.
Mechanics (7/10)
Along with the multitude of other aspects of Cunningham’s game, his mechanics are slightly above average for a college quarterback. He keeps a much wider base than Jackson did coming out of Louisville, and his throwing on the run matches perfectly with what a quarterback should be doing. This leads to better accuracy overall, and it boosts his mechanics score from a six to a seven.
Anticipation (6.75/10)
Given how one-dimensional the Louisville offense is, Cunningham still finds a way to showcase a higher level of mind-muscle connection. This attribute may not compete with the anticipation of Kyle Trask or other high-level quarterback talents in this class, but it certainly remains one of the greatest signals of potential for Cunningham. This trait may be the main reason (besides his unmatched athleticism) he is drafted.
Competitive Toughness (5/5)
Every one of these Louisville Cardinals has a selfless fight injected into their bloodstream. There rarely is any form of laziness on the field. Every play is 100%, not to mention the Cardinal ideology of rarely running out of bounds to gain the most yards. At his current body weight, Cunningham appears comfortable lowering the shoulder against the much heavier competition. That is energizing but arrogant and potentially career shortening.
Injury (2.5/5)
Although there may not be many injuries that keep Cunningham from the field for games at a time, there certainly are too many consistent in-game injuries that require time to heal before coming back onto the field, whether it is the next quarter or the next week. His frame suggests that this is something that will never go away.
Player Summary
Grab the popcorn. If you want a show, Cunningham is your guy. He can provide you with thriller action, suspenseful horror, and everything in between. His rare combination of athleticism and anticipation provides excellent building blocks for a quarterback that can sit behind a great decision maker like Alex Smith. Crippled mentally by his scheme, the future appears bright for Cunningham, but his scheme may have crippled him to the point of no return for NFL teams. Only time will tell whether Cunningham will be an unbelievable boom or a horrific bust.
Final Grade (66.75/100): Early-Fifth Round
Player Comp: Robert Griffin
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