With Jordan Love Inactive, Packers Make Move at Quarterback

The Green Bay Packers will roll with Malik Willis and added Clayton Tune for Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Plus, the Packers elevated a tight end from the practice squad.

Former University of Houston quarterback Clayton Tune throws a pass at the 2023 Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With Jordan Love out with a concussion, the Green Bay Packers have elevated quarterback Clayton Tune from the practice squad for Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Packers created a spot on the 53-man roster on Friday when they placed linebacker Kristian Welch on injured reserve. That will be kept for someone else, though.

Here is a look at the roster moves made at the Saturday deadline.

Elevated: QB Clayton Tune

Tune, a fifth-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2023, signed to Green Bay’s practice squad after he was released by the Cardinals at the end of training camp.

“He’s been doing a great job,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “He’s been traveling with us on the road. He’s got a pretty good grasp. He’s a smart guy. He attacks it the right way. He spends a ton of time with Sean Mannion post-practice trying to get extra reps, trying to work on his fundamentals and techniques.”

With Malik Willis set to start but dealing with a sore throwing shoulder, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Tune could play meaningful snaps against the Ravens.

Whether he plays or not, this will be his first time on the gameday roster with the Packers, a team for whom he has some distant ties. More on that later.

Tune does have some NFL experience. He started one game as a rookie, when he completed 11-of-20 passes for 58 yards and two interceptions. With seven sacks, Tune finished with 17 net passing yards and a passer rating of 20.8 in a shutout loss to the Browns.

However, a bad performance by a young quarterback doesn’t mean the young quarterback is bad. The perfect case in point is Willis.

A third-round pick by the Titans in 2022, Willis in 11 career appearances (three starts) in two seasons in Tennessee completed 53.0 percent of his passes with zero touchdowns, three interceptions and a 49.4 rating.

In 10 appearances (two starts) in two seasons since being acquired by the Packers, he has completed 76.5 percent of his passes with five touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 132.2 passer rating.

Tune has worked behind the scenes to improve his game and get ready in case of emergency.

“I think he’s done a really good job when we’ve been doing these periods post-practice (that) I would say (are) developmental periods for some of those guys who are on the p-squad or guys who aren’t getting as much time,” LaFleur said. “You’re just calling your plays. That’s been good experience for him and watching him go out there and compete against our defense.”

Tune, who had a solid preseason with the Cardinals, has impressed receiver Christian Watson.

“I think he’s fit really well in our quarterback room,” he said. “I think that he’s learned a lot from Malik and J-Love. I think he’s done a really good job with the scout team, and I see our guys out there making plays every day with him leading the way on the scout team. So, I think he’s a good quarterback and, if he ever got his opportunity, I know that he’ll be ready for it. He’s definitely approached it the right way for sure.”

At 6-foot-2 5/8, 220 pounds and 4.64 speed in the 40, Tune has the physical traits the Packers like at the position.

“If you look at my body of work, the effect that I have on my team that I play on, I elevate everyone around me,” he said after being drafted. “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.

“I have that no-flinch mentality when things get going tough. Those are some of the intangible things, and then being able to make every throw on the field, being able to make plays off-schedule and be more mobile than people realize.”

Tune had a prolific college career. In 47 games in five seasons at Houston, he threw for 11,996 yards and 104 touchdowns. During his final season in 2022, when he threw for 4,074 yards and 40 touchdowns and added another 544 rushing yards, he led the American Athletic Conference in completions, attempts, completion percentage, yards, yards per game and touchdowns.

“I think I’m the best quarterback in this class,” he said after being drafted.

One of his receivers that season was Matthew Golden.

“Tune knew the offense front and back,” Golden said before the 2023 season. “He taught me everything.”

That’s not the only Packers tie. When Tune was drafted by the Cardinals in 2023, he joined the same team that drafted his great-great uncle, Jimmy Lawrence. Lawrence, in fact, was the Cardinals’ first-ever draft pick in 1936.

Lawrence was traded to the Packers in 1939 and helped them win the NFL championship.

While with the Cardinals, he had this to say, and it certainly will apply to Saturday night at Lambeau:

“Every time I step on the field, I look around and think, ‘Man, this is cool.’”

Elevated: TE Drake Dabney

Last week with Josh Whyle out with a concussion, the Packers went with Luke Musgrave and John FitzPatrick as their only tight ends. It was a roster gamble that didn’t pay off. When FitzPatrick suffered his Achilles injury, the Packers were left with only one tight end.

On Saturday, the Packers elevated Drake Dabney from the practice squad. He’ll join Musgrave and Whyle as the three tight ends.

Dabney, a rookie from TCU, was choice over McCallan Castles, a first-year player from Tennessee. Dabney is more in the FitzPatrick mold at 6-foot-5 and 246 pounds.

“Both those guys, I love the effort that they give out each and every day,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week.

“I think there’s some unknown there. Certainly, the lack of reps and then it’s different in live game, but I think both of those guys are prospects that they offer a little different flavor in regards to what I think their strengths are right now.”

Dabney started 24 games at TCU and finished with 65 receptions for 873 yards and eight touchdowns. He went undrafted this year and opened the season on the Titans’ practice squad.

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