Philadelphia Eagles Cunningham was the Eagles' second-round pick, and the first quarterback selected in the
1985 NFL draft. Cunningham was also sought by the
United States Football League's
Tampa Bay Bandits that same year. Eagles owner
Norman Braman refused to negotiate with Cunningham if he accepted offers from the Bandits. Ultimately, the USFL folded, thus ending that issue. In his rookie season he played sparingly as a backup to veteran
Ron Jaworski but made a big splash with his uncanny scrambling ability, though he completed just 34 percent of his passes and threw just one touchdown against eight interceptions. In 1986, new head coach
Buddy Ryan arrived in Philadelphia and made wholesale changes, many of them unorthodox, mostly due to his defensive-minded philosophy. At the quarterback position, Ryan designated 35-year-old Ron Jaworski the starter but would replace the veteran with the fleet-footed Cunningham in third-and-long situations where the latter's scrambling would presumably put the defense on its heels. After a hand injury to Jaworski in week 10, Cunningham would replace him as the Eagles' starter. Despite his limited service and speed, the Eagles' porous offensive line allowed him to be sacked a franchise record (and NFL record at the time) 72 times that season. Cunningham was permanently handed the Eagles' starting job for the 1987 season. Cunningham was said to have reached "elite" status during the 1988 season, as he was elected by league players as the NFC starting quarterback for the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl (the first black quarterback to ever be elected a starter). That same year, he combined with fellow Eagle Pro Bowler
Reggie White to lead the Eagles to the NFC Eastern Division Championship. In the 1988 Divisional Playoffs, Cunningham threw 54 passes for 407 yards during the "
Fog Bowl" 20–12 loss against the
Chicago Bears, both of which remain playoff franchise records. He also shares the franchise record with 3 interceptions in that same game. In the subsequent Pro Bowl a few weeks later, Cunningham was named game MVP as the NFC defeated the AFC, 28–3. In 1989, on October 2 Cunningham also set the regular season franchise record with 62 pass attempts (now shared with
Nick Foles), also against the Chicago Bears. He had been an all-conference quarterback and punter while at
UNLV, and unleashed a 91-yard punt against the
Giants on December 3, the longest in Eagles history (and the fourth-longest ever). He had 20 punts during his career, with an average of 44.7 yards per punt. In a 1990 game against the
Buffalo Bills, Cunningham, throwing from his end zone, was about to be sacked by
Bruce Smith from his blind side. Cunningham ducked and threw a pass 60 yards to wide receiver
Fred Barnett, resulting in a 95-yard touchdown. That same year, Cunningham finished with 942 rushing yards, the 2nd most ever for a quarterback at the time (just 26 yards short of the all-time record, set by
Bobby Douglass in 1972) and 10th best in the league. He averaged 8.0 yards per rush, the most ever by an Eagle of any position with 100 attempts on the season, and third most in NFL history. In 1991, Cunningham's season came to an abrupt end when he was tackled by
Bryce Paup of the
Green Bay Packers and tore his
anterior cruciate ligament in the first game of the season. He would return to the Eagles completely healed the following season, and led the team to its first playoff victory in 12 years. However, it was evident that the injury he suffered took away much of his speed and athleticism. The 1993 and 1994 seasons would be riddled by a series of nagging injuries and a transition to the West Coast Offense that eventually led to his benching in favor of veteran
Rodney Peete. Feeling as if the fans and organization did not fully appreciate his contributions to the team's success, as well as being unhappy with his role as a back-up, Cunningham retired from football after the 1995 season. He left Philadelphia with the third-most rushing yards in Eagles history (4,482), trailing Hall of Famer
Steve Van Buren and
Wilbert Montgomery, but has since fallen to sixth after
Duce Staley,
Brian Westbrook, and
LeSean McCoy all surpassed him. He also left second only to
Ron Jaworski in passing yards, with 22,877, though both were later surpassed by
Donovan McNabb. He still holds the Eagles record with 6.62 yards per rush attempt, 422 sacks taken, and 6.5 yards per pass attempt in playoff games.
Minnesota Vikings Cunningham joined the Vikings in 1997 after being out of football in 1996. Vikings' coach
Dennis Green called him when he was on a job site for his granite business. There he reunited with former Eagles wide receiver
Cris Carter. In his first year with the Vikings, he orchestrated two late scoring drives to bring them back from a 9-point deficit to defeat the
New York Giants in an
NFC Wild Card game at
Giants Stadium, 23–22. However, the Vikings lost in the Divisional Round to
Steve Young and the
San Francisco 49ers. Cunningham enjoyed the greatest season of his career in Minnesota
during the 1998 campaign when he guided the Vikings to a 15–1 regular season record with 34 touchdown passes, only 10 interceptions, and 3,704 passing yards. Cunningham had a good supporting cast that year with
Cris Carter, rookie
Randy Moss, and
Jake Reed at wide receiver and
Robert Smith and
Leroy Hoard at running back. Cunningham led the league with a 106.0 passer rating while the Vikings scored a then-NFL record 556 points during the 1998 season, making him the first black quarterback to lead the league in that category. Cunningham claimed the Vikings' Monday night 37–24 victory over the
Green Bay Packers was "the greatest night of my football career". He threw for 442 yards and four touchdowns. However, the Vikings ended up being the first 15–1 team to fall short of the Super Bowl, losing to the underdog
Atlanta Falcons in the
NFC Championship Game by a field goal in overtime. During the early stages of the 1999 season, after throwing nine interceptions in just six games, Cunningham was benched again, this time in favor of
Jeff George. After the team announced that second-year quarterback
Daunte Culpepper would be the starter prior to the 2000 season, Cunningham was released.
Dallas Cowboys Shortly before the 2000 season, Cunningham signed with the
Dallas Cowboys to serve as a backup to
Troy Aikman. After a series of concussions ended Aikman's season, and ultimately his career, Cunningham again took the helm at quarterback. Despite posting a 1–2 record as a starter, he put up respectable numbers (849 yards passing with 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions). One notable occurrence during his time with the Cowboys was a return to Philadelphia. Cunningham started the game and dueled the new Eagles quarterback,
Donovan McNabb. The game was decided in
overtime, with an Eagles field goal giving them the 16–13 victory. He received a mixed reception of cheers and boos upon his return to Philadelphia. A 5–11 subpar year for the Cowboys led to major roster changes, and Cunningham was one of the many changes. At the end of the season, he reached incentive clauses that voided his contract and made him an unrestricted free agent. He was not re-signed, and the Cowboys signed quarterback
Tony Banks instead.
Baltimore Ravens On May 29, 2001, he was signed by the
Baltimore Ravens, reuniting with head coach
Brian Billick, who was his offensive coordinator with the
Minnesota Vikings. Cunningham was originally intended to serve as the third-string quarterback, but he was named the backup behind
Elvis Grbac after performing better than
Chris Redman. He went 2–0 as a starter. He was not re-signed, after the Ravens signed quarterback
Jeff Blake instead. On August 15, 2002, Cunningham signed a one-day contract with the
Philadelphia Eagles to officially announce his retirement. In his final 10 NFL seasons, Cunningham played in only 80 games, but finished his 16-year career completing 2,429 of his 4,289 attempts for 29,979 yards and 207 touchdowns, with 134 interceptions. He was sacked 484 times, eleventh-most all time. Cunningham also rushed for 4,928 yards on 775 carries and 35 touchdowns. He retired after the 2001 season as the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards and carries for the quarterback position, (a record broken in 2011 by
Michael Vick), and tied for fourth with
Steve Grogan in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. Cunningham also averaged 30.6 rushing yards per game during his career—second most all-time for quarterbacks, behind Michael Vick. ==NFL career statistics==