New Cardinals QB Clayton Tune: 'I Think I'm the Best QB in This Class'
TEMPE -- There's no quarterback competition for the Arizona Cardinals, at least when Kyler Murray returns to full health. If the team's newest fifth-round pick in Houston QB Clayton Tune has any say, he'll fight for the backup job upon arrival.
"I think I'm the best quarterback in this class and I feel like God's got a plan for me, so I wasn't too stressed about it," Tune told reporters in a conference call following his selection. "I didn't have too many expectations but I'm just happy to go to such a great organization and be able to live out - I'm just happy to go in there and work and compete."
Tune was a four-year starter and team captain for the Cougars. Last season, he threw for over 4,000 yards with 40 passing touchdowns on top of five rushing touchdowns as well.
Tune - drafted with Pick 139 in the fifth round - says he had an idea the Cardinals were interested in him, but had no concrete feelings during the process. Arizona QB coach Israel Woolfork was his position coach at the Senior Bowl.
Tune is fairly familiar with most of Arizona's quarterback room already. On the conference call with reporters, he said he's met both Colt McCoy and David Blough in previous interactions. When it comes to Murray, Tune played football not too far away and was just a few years younger when Murray tore up the Texas high school football scene.
"I looked up to Kyler, he's a little bit older but he had an unbelievable - a perfect high school career, I believe he went undefeated as a starter in high school. Watching that was really cool," said Tune.
"I didn't get to play against Kyler, he graduated before I was on varsity. But we played against Allen [High School] and had a long history with them. I grew up knowing who Kyler was so it's cool to see that."
Any quarterback has to embody some sort of confidence, and to hear a quarterback taken on Day 3 of the draft say he's the best in the class shows Tune is at least not locking in the confidence department.
"If you just look at my body of work, the effect that I have on my team that I play on. I elevate everyone around me. I'm a natural leader, people follow me and see the work that I'm putting in and the mindset that I have and they want to follow suit," said Tune.
"I have that no-flinch mentality when things get going tough, those are just some of the intangible things. Being able to make every throw on the field, being able to make plays off-schedule and be more mobile than people realize."
He might just get his chance while Murray recovers from injury.
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