Arizona Cardinals: It’s now or never for Clayton Tune to make his case

If I had to give Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Clayton Tune a star rating, he would get a solid three out of five. He hasn’t been great, displaying accuracy issues in both preseason games. But Tune is far from the worst quarterback I’ve seen play in the preseason, and I’ve seen rookie quarterbacks win starting jobs with far worse outings. 

Only this preseason, guys like Anthony Richardson and Bryce Young have been, at best, pedestrian during their respective games. And if I had to rank Tune against them, he would at least be a shade higher on the list. 

But now that the Cards have traded for Josh Dobbs, it means Tune could realistically open the 2023 season as the Redbirds third string quarterback. Or, it could also mean he opens the year as the starter if, say, Dobbs was brought in to be the backup and the Cards were to cut ties with presumed starter Colt McCoy - and if I were Monti Ossenfort, I would definitely consider the latter.

Arizona Cardinals rookie has one last chance to prove himself

So how has Tune looked across his first two preseason outings? So far, he’s completed 25 out of 47 attempts for 268 yards, good for just 5.7 yards per attempt. He also rushed for 44 yards on 10 attempts, good for a solid 4.4 yards per carry. 

Tune has completed just 53% of his passes, and that number needs to go way up if he wants a chance to win the starting job today. Sure, there have been several dropped passes, and more than a few have also gone through a receiver’s hands, but plenty of incompletions have been on Tune for his inability to get his throws down when targeting shorter receivers. 

To his credit, we have seen Tune roll out and throw the ball away on numerous occasions, something that can be uncharacteristic of NFL rookies. Tune has also shown outstanding leadership and nothing seems to rattle him. 

Overall, Tune has a chance to put this quarterback competition to sleep with a strong outing. Dobbs is new, McCoy is finished, or at least he should be, and there is no way David Blough or Jeff Driskel should make this roster. 

(Statistics provided by ESPN.com)