3 Patriots who should be cut after preseason Week 1

Patriots Week 1 preseason cut candidate No. 2: Trace McSorley, QB

Who wants an over-the-top knee-jerk reaction? Here it is.

Cut Trace McSorley. We’ve seen enough from Malik Cunningham.

Tank Dell stole the show for the Texans, but Cunningham stole it for the Patriots. Entering Week 1 of preseason, Cunningham was arguably the odd man out with the more experienced Trace McSorley primed to take the QB3 position.

In the sparse minutes that the ex-Cardinals quarterback played, he didn’t do much: he went 1-for-3 for four yards and took one sack.

Cunningham, on the other hand, made the fans ooh and aah and brought a sleepy Pats offense back to life.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, the undrafted rookie took over and started to cook — yes, he was cooking a back-of-the-roster Texans defense, but he cooked nonetheless.

Cunningham finished with five carries for 34 yards (leading the running back room!) and one rushing touchdown; he went 3-of-4 for 19 yards. The media, as one can imagine, went haywire:

At the start of the offseason, Cunningham’s primary position in New England was wide receiver. That’s where he played for most of camp up until the days leading up to Thursday’s preseason opener, when he started getting more quarterback snaps.

Why is this? We have absolutely no idea.

Whatever Bill Belichick’s reason is for playing Cunningham under center, it worked, though the versatile gadget threat doesn’t have a guaranteed spot on the 53-man roster yet. Still, all of Gillette Stadium would probably take Cunningham over McSorley after that dazzling first outing.

More fun and more games, please.