Clayton

Tune

The Cardinals offense was rolling in Week 2, starting with some Kyler Murray magic. While he barely looked for Marvin Harrison Jr. last week, Murray threw a pair of touchdowns his way this week in the first quarter. His third touchdown was off a scramble where he extended the play and found Elijah Higgins for the score. As a rusher, Murray was impactful as well, just under 12 yards per carry on five rushes. The game got out of hand in favor of the Cardinals early, leading to Clayton Tune finishing the game, though Tune fumbled and did not attempt a pass. Murray’s dual-threat ability cements him as a QB1 option for Week 3 against the Lions.

Tune drew the start and had a passable performance before being pulled for Desmond Ridder. An injury to Ridder late in the fourth quarter forced Tune back on the field with the Cardinals already in scoring range. Unfortunately, on his first play back, Tune threw a catchable pass to Broncos linebacker Levelle Bailey, who returned it 96 yards for a touchdown. It was a brutal break for Tune, who is battling with Ridder to be the backup for Kyler Murray to open the season. Ridder didn’t fare much better throwing for 111 scoreless yards on 10-of-16 passing, but he also didn’t turn the ball over. We’ll see how this competition shakes out in the coming days, but it’s safe to say neither quarterback would have much fantasy upside if they were to be forced to start.

Tune and Desmond Ridder are in a battle to back up Kyler Murray. In two preseason games, Tune has thrown for 242 yards and one touchdown while completing 67.6 percent of his passes, while Ridder has thrown for 114 yards with a 52.6 completion percentage. Tune has also rushed for 24 yards and a score. Tune started the Cardinals’ second preseason game against the Colts last week. The fact that he’s getting a chance to make another start to close out the preseason could suggest that the backup job is Tune’s to lose.

In a horrifying performance literally everyone saw coming, Tune also lost a fumble. He “added” five carries for 28 yards. You could say it wasn’t much help in a game where Arizona’s 58 yards of total offense was the franchise’s fewest since 1955 in Chicago. Unseemly. There were no instructive takeaways ahead of a Week 10 date where the Cardinals will almost certainly restore Kyler Murray under center. It is not Tune’s fault he was thrown to the wolves this afternoon, but today will severely damage of his odds of becoming a long-term NFL No. 2. It’s going to be a long time before he gets another shot.

That means rookie quarterback Clayton Tune is in line to start against the Browns in Week 9. Murray has one more week to be activated from injured reserve after his 21-day practice window was opened two weeks ago, meaning he is likely to start in Week 10 when the Cardinals take on the Falcons at home.

This doesn’t come as a surprise after Tune repped with the starters this week. The Cardinals will get a look at what they have in Tune, a five-year college starter, before turning the offense back to Kyler Murray with Murray’s 21-day window to be activated ending next week. Jeff Driskel will back up Tune vs the Browns.

According to Gannon, he will likely pick a starter on the team’s flight to Cleveland, or on Saturday after he’s had time to think things over. While it’s fair to say we don’t know who the starter will be, the portion of practice that was opened to media saw Clayton Tune and Jeff Driskel warming up with starters and Kyler Murray throwing to backups. This could be another “competitive advantage” move by Gannon, whose 1-6 Cardinals need every advantage they can get, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see Tune draw the start come Sunday.

It remains clear as mud what the Cardinals plan to do with their supposed franchise player, but they are saying he’s healthy enough to play football. It seems like the ultimate play is going to be to throw Clayton Tune to the wolves against the Browns’ elite defense then let Murray make his 2023 debut in Week 10. If Murray goes Sunday, he would crack the top 20 because of the sorry state at quarterback, but expectations would have to be for a modest QB2 affair against such a dangerous defense.

Fresh off dealing Joshua Dobbs to the Vikings, the Cardinals still have yet to decide on whether it will be Clayton Tune or Kyler Murray starting in Week 9. It was reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Monday that Tune was the favorite to start in Week 9 “barring a significant change,” so we’d still expect that to be the case. Murray has yet to be activated from injured reserve, although he could be activated at any time. If Murray isn’t activated, the Cardinals will need to sign another quarterback, as Tune is the only active quarterback on the roster.

After reportedly grinding the film of Josh Dobbs’ Week 8 performance against the Ravens, Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon went back on his decision to start Dobbs in Week 9 and will hand it over to either Tune or Kyler Murray. Like a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter, Rapoport reporting the start could go to Tune makes some sense. While Murray is nearing a return, Gannon opting to not roll him out against Myles Garrett and a top-notch Browns defense is a good call. Tune, a fifth-round rookie from Houston, can be left off fantasy radars, as he’ll face a challenging NFL debut at the Dawg Pound.