Bryan Cunningham, Jr. (born May 29, 1989) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. He was selected in the sixth round at the 183rd overall pick in the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

. He was also a member of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

and

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

Early life

Cunningham attended

Westerville South High School Westerville South High School is a public high school located in Westerville, Ohio, northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Originally Westerville High School, it is the oldest of the three high schools in the Westerville City School District. It serves mo ...

Westerville, Ohio Westerville is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin and Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. A northeastern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus as well as the home of Otterbein University, the population was 39 ...

. As a senior, he had 45 receptions for 770 yards and nine

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

College career

Cunningham concluded his career at Michigan State as the school's all-time leader in receptions (218) and receiving yards (3,086). He also ranks second in career TD receptions with 25.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

He was selected in the sixth round of the

by the

. On May 17 of that year, Cunningham signed a four-year $2.2 million contract; includes a $106,000 signing bonus. Cunningham was, however, cut by the Dolphins on August 31, 2012.

Philadelphia Eagles

Cunningham was signed to the

practice squad on September 1, 2012. On August 1, 2013, Cunningham was waived with an injury settlement by the Philadelphia Eagles. On October 14, 2013, Cunningham was re-signed to the Eagles' active roster. He was released on November 12, 2013. Two days later, he was signed to Eagles'

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

Chicago Bears

Cunningham was signed to the

practice squad on November 12, 2014.

Montreal Alouettes

Cunningham was signed by the

on July 28, 2015. After a modest 2015 season Cunningham had a breakout 2016 campaign, playing in 17 regular season games catching 65 passes for 855 yards with 4 touchdowns. The following season, in 2017, he had the best season of his career, catching 69 passes for 1,128 yards with 4 touchdowns. Cunningham missed four games in the 2018 season but was still a significant contributor to the Alouettes' passing attack. In February 2019, Cunningham signed a contract extension with Montreal. In August 2019, Cunningham suffered a fractured wrist and played in just six games. He signed a one-year contract extension with the Alouettes on January 25, 2021. For the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Cunningham played in nine games where he had 36 receptions for 474 yards and one touchdown. He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 8, 2022.

Ottawa Redblacks

On February 10, 2022, it was announced that Cunningham had signed with the

. Cunningham was released as part of the team's final roster cuts on June 4, 2022.

References

External links

Ottawa Redblacks bio

Philadelphia Eagles bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, B. J. 1989 births Living people American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Players of Canadian football from Ohio Michigan State Spartans football players Miami Dolphins players Philadelphia Eagles players Chicago Bears players Montreal Alouettes players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of American football from Ohio Sportspeople from Westerville, Ohio