The Cleveland Browns won the toss and opted to take the ball. That meant the Philadelphia Eagles defense was up first, and onto the field trotted Nakobe Dean and Zach Cunningham to man their linebacker posts.
Don’t look now, but Cunningham has wasted little time climbing the depth chart since arriving with Myles Jack on Aug. 6 as a free agent. He is in a position now where he and Dean may be the starting linebackers when the season begins for real against the New England Patriots on Sept. 10.
“Yeah, Zach has played well,” said head coach Nick Sirriani when asked by SI.com Eagles Today if starting him was an indication of how far he has come since his arrival. “One of the reasons why he was in there (Thursday night because he’s played really well. Really excited about where he is.”
Sirianni added that he wanted to see Cunningham in there with Dean, who relays the signals from defensive coordinator Sean Desai on the defense.
The starting spot was a product of Cunningham’s solid work in the two joint practices with the Browns leading up to a game that ended in an 18-18 tie.
It was Cunningham who deflected a pass on both days that led to Reed Blankenship's interceptions of Deshaun Watson.
“He got a couple hands on balls (and) thought he made some nice plays (Thursday) and also thought he made some nice plays in the joint practices getting some hands on the football,” Sirianni said. “…really like how he dissects plays and gets to the ball. Yeah, he’s making good strides.”
In 37 snaps (43 percent), Cunningham recorded seven tackles to tie teammate K’Von Wallace for the team-high.
“Hey, I made seven tackles,” he said nonchalantly when asked by SI Eagles Today how it felt to lead the team in that department. “That’s good, right? I would say that’s a strength, tackling. That’s always been a strength of mine, being able to close and tackle.”
It was a hefty number of snaps for him, however, since he had played just 15 snaps over the final nine games of last season when he was with the Tennessee Titans.
“It’s been a minute since I’ve played so much, but I feel like I’m getting more comfortable out there, made some adjustments to being back playing football,” he said. “It’s still early, but I’m just glad I’m able to go out there and make plays and be able to feel more comfortable out there. I feel like it looked that way.”
Interestingly, Cunningham added that he doesn’t consider covering backs and tight ends in pass coverage to be a strength, despite being 6-3.
“I mean, I’m not gonna lie, that’s never been a strength, but it’s something in recent years I’ve tried to improve on, like you said, being in coverage and covering backs and tight ends,” he said.
Sirianni sort of disagreed. Familiar with him from his time with the Indianapolis Colts, and having to face Cunningham and the team that originally drafted him, the Houston Texans, twice a year in the AFC South, Sirianni knows the challenges Cunningham can present in coverage.
“He’s long, right?” Sirianni said. “Going back to when we would go against him when we were in Indy and he was in Houston, he was a body you had to throw around because it was hard to throw over top of him because of his length.”
Cunningham has certainly put some distance between himself and Jack, whose first snaps on Thursday didn’t come until late in the third quarter. If Cunningham continues to progress, especially in pass coverage, he could be a three-down linebacker for this team.
“We’re going to find out,” he said. “I think tonight was a big step.”
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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