Jermaine Cunningham was a 2^nd round pick of the New England Patriots in the 2010 NFL Draft, but he has barely done anything in his first 2 years in the league. He’s been too much of a defensive end/linebacker tweener and has yet to establish himself anywhere with the Patriots switching schemes from a 3-4 to a 4-3. In 2010, he was solid with 1 sack, 4 quarterback hits, and 24 pressures as a part time player at linebacker, but last year, after high expectations in the offseason, he played just 48 snaps at defensive end and did not manage a sack, hit, or pressure on the quarterback.

He doesn’t appear to be in any position to change that in his 3^rd year in the league as he is now buried on the depth chart at defensive end behind Chandler Jones, Jake Bequette, Trevor Scott, Brandon Deaderick, Jonathan Fanene, and even Rob Ninkovich and Dont’a Hightower, linebackers who can play defensive end. The Patriots have also talked about bringing back Andre Carter, who would also likely be ahead of him on the depth chart.

That being said, the Patriots still praised the 3^rd year player out of Florida for his performance this offseason. Belichick was quoted as saying about Cunningham “a player’s physical improvement, overall mental grasp of what we’re doing and what we can see on the field which is non-contact but reactions and technique.” Still, he is buried on the depth chart and is no lock to make the final 53 man roster. Cunningham looks like he could end up being a wasted 2^nd round pick, but maybe Belichick will end up being right.

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