Arizona Cardinals: Comparing Clayton Tune’s performance vs. notable rookie QBs
By Sion Fawkes
Clayton Tune wasn’t impressive in his debut with the Arizona Cardinals on Friday night, but he also wasn’t terrible. His intangibles, like his overall poise and calmness, were on full display, and it was good to see from a rookie quarterback taking his first reps in an NFL game.
But Tune wasn’t the only notable rookie who could, at some point this season, have a realistic chance to start when the games count. Below, I’ve compared Tune’s performance to five notable rookies who could very well see the playing field for an extensive period. Check them out below to discover how Tune’s numbers and overall play compare.
Arizona Cardinals QB Clayton Tune vs. other notable rookie quarterbacks
1 - Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Matt Corral got most of the snaps, and it became apparent why the Carolina Panthers were so interested in taking a quarterback at number one overall. Corral was a spotty 15 for 22 for 126 yards and a pick after he relieved Young.
Regarding Young, he didn’t see the field much, finishing the game with three completions on five attempts for 21 yards and a 72.2 quarterback rating. He also lost nine yards on a sack, and left the game before anyone could get a good read on him. There isn’t a large enough sample size to compare Young to Tune, and Week 2 will give us a better indication.
2 - C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
We know C.J. Stroud will wind up as the Houston Texans starting quarterback following a pair of pedestrian seasons from Davis Mills. Like Young, Stroud had a small sample size, but from what we saw, he didn’t look ready to play in an NFL game, finishing with two completions on four attempts, 13 passing yards, and an interception.
While Mills and Case Keenum looked far superior to Stroud, don’t expect this to change the team’s mentality. Keenum is aging and Mills has already shown us his limitations, but we don’t know what Stroud will ultimately look like. His sample size is too small to compare to Tune’s at the moment.