{"id":645173,"date":"2026-05-03T14:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645173\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T14:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:01:11","slug":"can-qb-cade-klubnik-live-up-to-his-2025-hype-with-the-new-york-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645173\/","title":{"rendered":"Can QB Cade Klubnik live up to his 2025 hype with the New York Jets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — A look at what\u2019s happening around the New York Jets<\/a>:<\/p>\n

1. From 1 to 110: It was supposed to be the year of the quarterback, and the name atop some of the earliest 2026 mock drafts was Clemson\u2019s Cade Klubnik<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ESPN draft analysts Matt Miller and Jordan Reid both had Klubnik as the No. 1 overall pick in their \u201cway-too-early\u201d mocks from last spring and summer.<\/p>\n

And then the 2025 season happened.<\/p>\n

Klubnik, like a handful of other highly rated college quarterbacks, fell short of expectations. He wound up being drafted 110th overall by the Jets, who traded up 18 spots in the fourth round — the largest upward move in a picks-for-picks, same-draft-day trade in franchise history, according to the Jets. Some talent evaluators expected him to go later than that.<\/p>\n

The draft is a fickle business. Prospects can go from blue chip to feeling blue in a matter of months.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be critical of my own profession, [the early mocks] are driven so much on hype, and Klubnik had just come off that College Football Playoff against Texas,\u201d Miller said by phone, referring to Klubnik\u2019s 336-yard, three-touchdown passing performance. \u201cThey lost, but he put the team on his back. You thought, \u2018Oh my gosh!\u2019 You expected that last season, but instead what we got was a decline from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was never that he was Caleb Williams<\/a> or Trevor Lawrence<\/a> — he was never that type of prospect — but you were projecting what we saw against Texas in the CFP was actually who he was going to be. But Clemson regressed across the board. Every player except Blake Miller<\/a> (first round, Detroit Lions<\/a>) saw their stock drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klubnik went from 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2024 to 2,943 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2025, as Clemson stumbled to 7-6.<\/p>\n

The Jets haven\u2019t had much luck with Day 3 quarterbacks — or any quarterbacks, for that matter. Four of the last seven drafted by them never took a snap in an NFL game — Jordan Travis<\/a> (2024), James Morgan (2020), Christian Hackenberg (2016) and Tajh Boyd (2014).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard enough to hit on a quarterback in the first round, let alone the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh. Of the 60 quarterbacks drafted on Day 3 from 2016 to 2025, only three have started at least 20 games — Dak Prescott<\/a> (139), Gardner Minshew (47) and Brock Purdy<\/a> (45).<\/p>\n

Basically, it\u2019s a 1-in-20 chance of finding a starter. That\u2019s why it\u2019s akin to a lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a track record of taking highly experienced college players and letting them play,\u201d Miller said. \u201cYou hate to make the Purdy comparison because it\u2019s so overused at this point, but if there\u2019s going to be a Purdy in this year\u2019s class, it\u2019s going to be Klubnik because of the experience, the athletic ability, the arm and the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Speed kills: On paper, the Jets\u2019 edge rush should be much improved from last season. The addition of second overall pick David Bailey<\/a>, combined with Will McDonald IV<\/a>, gives them two outside rushers that can win with speed.<\/p>\n

They also have two experienced rushers in Joseph Ossai<\/a> and Kingsley Enagbare<\/a>, who spent the last four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> and Green Bay Packers<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have four guys, four edges — well, actually more than that — but with those four guys that we have on the team, they\u2019re going to be able to cause some damage for us,\u201d coach Aaron Glenn said.<\/p>\n

The Jets were second to last in sacks (26) last season. The lack of pressure on the quarterback was one of the reasons why they failed to record an interception — the first team in history to take an oh-fer in at least a 16-game season.<\/p>\n

3. Tech-nically speaking: Bailey led the FBS with 14.5 sacks. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some context. Film review reveals that he won with outside speed on no fewer than seven sacks — plays in which he blew past the tackle. He used power (i.e., bull rush) on two sacks, including one against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. He used a natty spin move for another two.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Bailey was double-teamed on only one sack — a play against Arizona State in which he was chipped by a tight end. No doubt, he benefited from a strong supporting cast, which probably resulted in fewer double teams.<\/p>\n

Texas Tech had an outstanding front with Romello Height<\/a> (San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, third-round pick) and Lee Hunter<\/a> (Carolina Panthers<\/a>, second round), not to mention linebacker Jacob Rodriguez<\/a> (Miami Dolphins<\/a>, second round). Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire called the pass rushers his \u201cVelociraptors.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also helped that they played with big leads — a lot of big leads. Nearly half of Bailey\u2019s pass rushes (155 out of 353) came with the Red Raiders leading by at least 14 points. That total (155) led the FBS. Height wasn\u2019t far behind at 150.<\/p>\n

In other words, Bailey played in the ideal pass-rushing environment last season. It probably won\u2019t be that way on a still-developing Jets team, though they believe his physical traits will carry over.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst-step quickness,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cThat\u2019s obvious when you watch the tape, the way he\u2019s able to beat tackles around the edge. But don\u2019t take him for a guy that can just rush with speed around the edge. Man, there are several power things that he\u2019s done within his game that allows him to be able to show that he can rush for power.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Gold star, but ..: The Jets received high grades and rave reviews for their draft class, including a tip of the cap from Next Gen Stats, which gave them the No. 1 overall draft score.<\/p>\n

That they made three first-round picks boosted their grades, no doubt, but we all know that success in April doesn\u2019t always translate to wins in the fall and winter.<\/p>\n

The Jets became the 10th team in the free agency era (since 1993) to have at least three first-round picks in the same draft, per ESPN Research. Only one of the previous nine reached a Super Bowl within three years of the draft — the 2001 St. Louis Rams, who lost to the New England Patriots<\/a> in Super Bowl XXXVI.<\/p>\n

In fact, the nine teams, including the 2000 and 2022 Jets, combined for only four playoff wins in the three-year time frame.<\/p>\n

5. Under the cap: The Jets made a league-high three first-round draft picks, so it makes sense that their total rookie pool is a league-high $23.5 million, per Over the Cap. The rookie signings will eat up about $16.5 million in actual cap space. They\u2019re in a good place cap-wise — about $40 million under the cap.<\/p>\n

Based on the slotting system, Bailey\u2019s contract will be about $56 million over four years, fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — A look at what\u2019s happening around the New York Jets: 1. From 1 to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,100512,514,82],"class_list":["post-645173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-new-york-jets-sports-football-team-team-statscom-352","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}