This Cardinals position battle should be closely watched as 2024 season approaches
By Brandon Ray
As training camp slowly approaches for NFL teams, there will be a wide variety of position battles to keep an eye on for many teams. Part of getting better and improving is to push for some competition. While there are obvious star players that shouldn’t be challenged for a starting spot, that is not the case for many players.
The Arizona Cardinals will have a position battle on their hands that is not getting a lot of attention, but should because it is a crucial position that is expected to be ready incase adversity comes up.
Who will be Kyler Murray’s backup in 2024?
The backup quarterback is such an important role in the NFL. When a starter goes down, it changes the impact of the offense moving forward. The only exception in recent memory was back in the 2017-2018 season with the Philadelphia Eagles when Carson Wentz tore his ACL and Nick Foles stepped in to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl championship. Aside from that, teams usually don’t have a ton of success after losing their starting quarterback.
The Cardinals current notable quarterback room includes Kyler Murray, Clayton Tune, and Desmond Ridder.
Tune was drafted by the Cardinals last year in the 5th round and started just one game in 2023 against the Cleveland Browns who were playing almost perfect defensive football. In that game, Tune completed just over 50% of his passes for 58 yards and two interceptions. Tune was also sacked seven times in that game.
This past offseason, the Cardinals traded away wide receiver Rondale Moore to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for quarterback Desmond Ridder. Being drafted in 2022, Ridder was brought in as the potential future for the Falcons but that experiment came to an end quickly after a rough 2023 season. Ridder went 6-7 as a starter, throwing for 2,836 yards and 12 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
The backup competition between Tune and Ridder should be on Cardinals’ fans radar as they saw what a season without Kyler Murray can be like. Should Murray get injured again, Arizona will need to have faith in their backup quarterback so this camp battle will be important to watch.