LAS VEGAS — Former NFL MVP Randall Cunningham has joined the rebranded Las Vegas Raiders as the team’s chaplain.
“I’m elated, flabbergasted,” Cunningham told ESPN on Friday. “I’ve already been in on some [Zoom] meetings with the team. I plan on spending a lot of time with the guys when it’s OK. I’ve talked with Marcus Mariota, Nelson Agholor. What an amazing group of people Mark Davis and Jon Gruden have put together.”
Cunningham, 57, played college football at UNLV from 1982-84. He was the Philadelphia Eagles‘ second-round draft pick in the 1985 NFL draft and the eventual four-time Pro Bowler was the league MVP in 1990.
After 11 seasons in Philadelphia (Gruden was his offensive coordinator for one season in 1995), Cunningham, as a free agent, said he put up a billboard in Oakland that read, “Need a quarterback? Call Randall Cunningham.”
Al Davis never bit, though, and Cunningham sat out the 1996 NFL season before returning with the Minnesota Vikings in 1997 and spending a season each with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
Cunningham, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016, made Las Vegas his permanent residence late in his playing career and later established his own church, Remnant Ministries, as its pastor.
“He’s going to take care of the guys in Las Vegas,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN.com. “Jon had him address the team in a team Zoom [recently] and he did a really good job of setting the stage for the team in Las Vegas.
“When you talk to anyone in the community, everybody always talks about Randall. It’s pretty special.”
Cunningham replaces former Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman, who is the coach of the Oakland Bishop O’Dowd High School football team.
“Gruden asked me to be the team chaplain,” Cunningham said. “I have a responsibility to look after these guys in this town. And I accept that responsibility.”