Winner Emerges in Cardinals QB Battle

Clayton Tune is your backup behind Kyler Murray for the Arizona Cardinals after preseason play has concluded.

Aug 25, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Clayton Tune (15) prepares to pass the ball in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- The preseason has officially come to a close for the Arizona Cardinals and with that came final opportunities for Clayton Tune and Desmond Ridder to advertise themselves as potential backup quarterback options for the team behind Kyler Murray.

The Cardinals offense could get precious little right in a loss to the Denver Broncos as the team managed just a single touchdown to pair with two field goals. Again, a forgettable day at the office to be certain.

The lone touchdown drive came under Ridder, who orchestrated an 11-play drive late in the game to try and get the Cards back into contention. Some nice completions moved the team down the field before finally cracking into the end zone. A try for a two-point conversion was unsuccessful after a broken-up pass was made targeting receiver Andre Baccellia.

On the other hand, Tune looked fine in the first half; not quite as stand out-ish as he was in his previous two exhibition games. Tune was forced back into the game late when Ridder was checked in for concussion protocol and threw a pick-six on his first play of the drive.

It ruined what was a forgettable day already for Tune.

It proved to be the last pass of the day, as the Cardinals opted to run the rest of the clock out rather than to try and push the ball any further.

At the end of the day, the two QBs combined for 210 passing yards on 22 completions to go with Tune’s pick-six. Ridder also had a 27-yard run on his resume, while Tune had a nine-yard scamper of his own.

All in all, it wasn’t the performance either quarterback wanted, but it goes much more against Ridder than it does Tune.

Ridder needed an excellent closing game to the preseason to help his chances of making the final roster and he didn’t quite get that. He also needed Tune to be horrific, and that didn’t happen either.

Instead, Ridder couldn’t find a way to make any waves and convince us that he deserves to be kept over Tune and it could ultimately cost him a spot on the Cardinals final 53-man roster.

There is always a chance the Cardinals decide to keep three quarterbacks, but neither did enough to warrant using an extra roster space for a third QB. Tune was the better of the two and it feels all but certain that he will own the backup role behind Murray.

Ridder’s time with the Cardinals could be done, but he did enough to hopefully woo other teams into giving him a chance.

But now that everything is done, we appear to have our champion for the Cardinals' QB2 battle – Clayton Tune.