Arizona Cardinals rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Tune is expected to make his first NFL start Sunday at Cleveland, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
On Monday, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said either Tune or Kyler Murray would start against the Browns. The Cardinals traded Joshua Dobbs — their starter for the first eight weeks of the season — to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday and signed Jeff Driskel to the practice squad Wednesday.
The Cardinals are not activating Murray off the PUP list by Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline, making him ineligible to play vs. the Browns. His 21-day window to be activated ends next week.
Gannon has said for months that the Cardinals will make an organizational decision on Murray’s return from an ACL tear. On Friday, he clarified that includes general manager Monti Ossenfort and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing along with Gannon and Murray. They also will keep owner Michael Bidwill in the loop, Gannon said.
All three Cardinals quarterbacks had a good week of practice, Gannon said. But the coach wanted to see how Murray and Tune looked in Friday’s practice before making a decision, he said, while noting nothing will immediately change his mind.
Tune, 24, has played just one snap all season and it came on a fake punt in Seattle in Week 7. He completed his only pass for 4 yards. That’s all Arizona has seen out of him outside of practice.
From the preseason — when Tune completed 34 of 59 passes for 353 yards with a touchdown and an interception — to now, Tune has noticed the NFL is “a little faster.” He could tell it means more in the regular season, which has led to players being “more fired up.” As a result, Tune said he’ll need to make quick and smart decisions.
Tune said on Wednesday he’s always been cool, calm and collected on the field. It’s a persona instilled in him by former coaches, who stressed to Tune that it was important for his teammates to not see him too high or too low.
Information from ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss was used in this report.
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