Less than two weeks after New England created a buzz by signing Malik Cunningham to its active roster, the Patriots waived the former Park Crossing High School star on Tuesday.

New England also released former Columbia High School standout Trey Flowers from the physically-unable-to-perform list on Tuesday.

The Patriots signed Cunningham as an undrafted rookie in May with a stated intention of turning the Louisville quarterback into a wide receiver. But in the preseason, Cunningham played both positions before beginning the 2023 season on New England’s practice squad.

On Oct. 14, the Patriots signed Cunningham to their active roster, even though they already had three quarterbacks among the 53 players – Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Will Grier.

Cunningham joined the active roster after New England had played back-to-back games without scoring a touchdown. Cunningham’s mobility – as illustrated by 3,179 rushing yards and 50 TD runs at Louisville – appeared to raise the possibility the Patriots would use the rookie as a change-of-pace to Jones, a dropback passer with 301 rushing yards in his NFL career, particularly after Patriots coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien praised Cunningham’s improvement in the week before he joined the active roster.

Cunningham backed up Jones during a 21-17 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 15. He got on the field for six snaps, but his only stat was being sacked once.

For New England’s 29-25 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Zappe served as Jones’ backup, with Cunningham designated as a game-day inactive.

After playing in four games with the Miami Dolphins in 2022, Flowers rejoined New England in August. Flowers spent the first four seasons on his NFL career with the Patriots before leaving in free agency after the 2018 season. As the defensive end led New England in sacks in three consecutive seasons, Flowers played in three consecutive Super Bowls.

Injuries have affected Flowers past three seasons, when he’s played in 18 games and missed 32.

Flowers returned to practice with New England on Oct. 4. The Patriots had three weeks to put him on the active roster or keep him on the PUP list for the remainder of the season.

New England didn’t do either. With Flowers’ window to join the roster scheduled to end on Wednesday, the Patriots released him.

Cunningham and Flowers could be candidates to stay with New England as members of the practice squad, but Cunningham will have to clear waivers before that could happen.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.