The Cardinals took a step towards finalizing their 53-man roster on Monday by waiving 12 players including quarterback Clayton Tune, per a team announcement.
Tune, a 2023 fifth-round pick, began his rookie year as Arizona’s backup quarterback behind Joshua Dobbs with Kyler Murray working his way back from an ACL tear. Dobbs was sent to the Vikings at the trade deadline with Murray still not at 100%, so Tune started in Week 9 and got shut out by the Browns’ top-ranked defense.
The 26-year-old held onto the QB2 job in 2024, but only attempted two passes on the year to bring his career total to 23. This offseason, the Cardinals brought in veteran Jacoby Brissett as a more capable and experienced backup to Murray, and they opted not to carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. However, Tune is a strong candidate to be signed to the team’s practice squad as the third-string quarterback.
Tune’s release will leave $86K of dead money on the Cardinals’ salary cap in 2025 and 2026, per OverTheCap. Here are Arizona’s other 11 cuts:
- WR Andre Baccellia
- CB Ekow Boye-Doe
- TE Oscar Cardenas
- OL McClendon Curtis
- CB Steven Gilmore
- DL Patrick Jenkins
- LB Vi Jones
- OL Roy Mbaeteka
- WR Nate McCollum
- OL Dohnovan West
- LB Benton Whitley
Mbaeteka is the only other player of note, as the Nigeria native is eligible to be an extra player on the practice squad via an international exemption. Teams can place claims on waived players until Wednesday, when all claims will be processed. Unclaimed players will then be eligible to sign with any team’s practice squad.