Korey Cunningham (May 17, 1995 – April 25, 2024) was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) from 2018 to 2022. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL draft. He played in the NFL for the Cardinals, New England Patriots, and New York Giants.
_(cropped).jpg) Cunningham at Luke Air Force Base in 2018 | |||||
| Personal information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born: | May 17, 1995 Montevallo, Alabama, U.S. | ||||
| Died: | April 25, 2024 (aged 28) Clifton, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 311 lb (141 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | Montevallo | ||||
| College: | Cincinnati (2013–2017) | ||||
| Position: | Offensive tackle | ||||
| NFL draft: | 2018 / Round: 7 / Pick: 254 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||
| |||||
| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||
Amateur career
Cunningham attended Montevallo High School in Montevallo, Alabama. He played for the school's football team as a tight end and defensive end.
Cunningham intended to enroll at Auburn University to play college football for the Tigers under head coach Gene Chizik, but when they replaced Chizik with Gus Malzahn, he changed his commmitment to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to play for the UAB Blazers. When Blazers' assistant coach Tyson Helton left UAB to coach for the Cincinnati Bearcats at the University of Cincinnati, Cunningham went with him. He converted to offensive tackle with Cincinnati. He played in 33 games, starting his final 24 games as a left tackle, for the Bearcats.
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 5+3⁄8 in (1.97 m) | 311 lb (141 kg) | 32+1⁄4 in (0.82 m) | 9+3⁄8 in (0.24 m) | 4.90 s | 1.75 s | 2.74 s | 35.5 in (0.90 m) | 9 ft 11 in (3.02 m) | 27 reps | |||
| All values from Pro Day | ||||||||||||
Arizona Cardinals
Cunningham was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the seventh round (254th overall) of the 2018 NFL draft. On May 11, 2018, he signed his rookie contract. He started six games for the Cardinals during the 2018 season. He suffered a foot injury in Week 16 and was placed on injured reserve on December 25, 2018.
New England Patriots
On August 28, 2019, the Cardinals traded Cunningham to the New England Patriots for a sixth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Cunningham played in 18 regular season games for the Patriots, starting six of them, and in one game in the postseason.
On August 31, 2021, Cunningham was released by the Patriots.
New York Giants
On September 7, 2021, Cunningham was signed to the practice squad of the New York Giants. On October 19, 2021, Cunningham was signed to the active roster.
On March 17, 2022, the Giants re-signed Cunningham. On July 22, 2022, his contract was terminated with a non-football injury. On October 18, 2022, the Giants signed Cunningham to their practice squad. On November 23, 2022, Cunningham was elevated from the practice squad for week 12 game against the Dallas Cowboys. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 22, 2023. He was released on August 27, 2023.
Death
On April 25, 2024, emergency responders found Cunningham dead at age 28 in his Clifton, New Jersey home shortly before 3:30 p.m. EDT after he was reported unconscious. His cause of death is still under investigation.