Cardinals select Houston QB Clayton Tune with 139th pick in NFL Draft

The Arizona Cardinals took Houston quarterback Clayton Tune with the 139th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft on Saturday.

Tune, 24, is coming off a senior season (13 games played) with the Cougars where he completed 67.3% of his passes for 4,074 yards and 40 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound QB also went to work on the ground, rushing for 544 yards and five touchdowns on 128 carries.

“I feel think I’m the best quarterback in this class,” Tune told local reporters via teleconference on Saturday. “I didn’t have too many expectations, just happy to go to a great organization and be able to live out my dream. Just happy to go in there and work and compete.”

Tune marks the second Day 3 pick made by Arizona following the addition of UCLA OL Jon Gaines II.

The QB now joins a room that features Kyler Murray, who is in the middle of rehabbing from a torn ACL, Colt McCoy and David Blough.

It’s been an eventful draft to say the least for first-year general manager Monti Ossenfort, who pulled off a pair of trades during the first round on Thursday night, nabbing Johnson and additional draft capital along the way.

Ossenfort started his wheeling and dealing in a trade with the Houston Texans that saw Arizona send out pick Nos. 3 and 105 in exchange for Nos. 12 and 33 on top of a 2024 first- and third-rounder.

From there, Ossenfort got on the phone with the Detroit Lions, who sent Nos. 6 and 81 to the Cardinals for pick Nos. 12, 34 and 168.

He wasn’t done, either, dealing pick Nos. 33 and 81 on Friday in exchange for Nos. 41 and 72 in addition to a 2024 third-rounder. Arizona used the 41st pick on LSU edge defender BJ Ojulari and the 72nd pick on Syracuse CB Garrett Williams.

Then came Ossenfort’s final move of Day 2, a deal with the Tennessee Titans that returned Nos. 122, 139 — which was used on Tune — and 168 for No. 96.

There was, however, another trade facilitated by the Cardinals this draft, albeit for a different reason.

Moments before the draft began, the Cardinals and Eagles settled a tampering investigation involving the recruitment of former Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as Arizona’s new head coach, the teams announced. The deal centered around the Cardinals agreeing to swap third-round picks (Arizona’s No. 66 and Philadelphia’s No. 94) in 2023. The Cardinals also received the Eagles’ fifth-round selection in 2024.

With the swapped No. 94 pick, Arizona turned around and added Stanford wide receiver Mike Wilson.

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