{"id":859077,"date":"2026-08-15T13:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T13:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/859077\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T13:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T13:48:13","slug":"cade-klubnik-cool-calm-and-collected-in-nfl-debut-highlighting-jets-preseason-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/859077\/","title":{"rendered":"Cade Klubnik cool, calm and collected in NFL debut, highlighting Jets\u2019 preseason opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of Saturday\u2019s NFL preseason action.<\/a><\/p>\n

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 When Cade Klubnik was a freshman in high school, he stood on the sideline and watched as a superstar wide receiver went up and caught a ball with one hand, still one of the best catches he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n

Klubnik has spent a lot of time watching Garrett Wilson over the years. They both grew up in Austin, Texas. When Klubnik was a freshman at Westlake High, Wilson was a senior at Lake Travis. That\u2019s where the quarterback saw that one-handed grab, the sort of thing that\u2019s become routine for Wilson, one of the most acrobatic, athletic wide receivers the NFL has to offer.<\/p>\n

This summer, Klubnik and Wilson worked out together in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to sling it around,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

Once training camp started, their shared reps dwindled, the product of a rookie competing to become the No. 2 quarterback while Wilson gets reps with Geno Smith, the veteran starter. On Wednesday, Smith left joint practices with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he felt soreness in an ankle; head coach Aaron Glenn told Klubnik on Thursday he\u2019d be starting the preseason opener against Tampa Bay \u2014 a big deal considering the rest of the offense would consist of starters. Including Wilson.<\/p>\n

On one of Klubnik\u2019s first NFL snaps Friday night, he stood strong in a clean pocket and delivered a pass, in traffic, to the receiver he\u2019s long admired and watched from afar. Klubnik put the ball in a spot only Wilson could get it \u2014 and he did, contorting his body to leap above the defensive back and come down with it for a 21-yard gain and a first down. Klubnik hit Wilson again on third down a few plays later to help set up a field goal on the opening drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was no surprise to see him make a play like that,\u201d Klubnik said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the most athletic, best receivers I\u2019ve ever seen in my life, and to see him make plays like that over the years and again today, in person, is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger surprise: how calm and cool Klubnik was in his NFL debut, even if it was against Buccaneers backups and in a preseason game. It might seem like nothing to get excited about, but consider the run of young Jets quarterbacks over the last decade. In this setting and in training-camp practices, you could see it with past QBs \u2014 misfiring on what should be easy completions, holding on to the ball too long and\/or crumbling when pressure comes.<\/p>\n

Klubnik has had good days and bad days this summer, but he\u2019s really done none of that. Wilson has noticed it, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence is the main thing I would say with him,\u201d Wilson said Wednesday. \u201cFrom Day 1, honestly, I was like: Man, he trusts his training, his arm, to make some throws where it\u2019s like, Man, wow. \u2026 He\u2019s got it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klubnik has another word for it: poise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019m a young player, I\u2019m poised and I don\u2019t feel like I get really flustered from big games and big moments,\u201d he said, later explaining, \u201cI just love football. I love the game. And I get so excited. Everybody gets nerves, everybody gets butterflies. But for me I just feel like I\u2019ve always been really excited to play the game. And you train all year long, you only get so many opportunities to put the pads on, put the helmet on and really go play. My whole life I\u2019ve always been excited on game days, never really nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Plays from Buccaneers @ Jets<\/p>\n

Overall, it was a solid evening for Klubnik, who played only two series before giving way to Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook. Klubnik is technically competing with Zappe and Cook for the No. 2 job behind Smith, but really it\u2019s his job to lose. On Friday, Zappe threw two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, while Cook showed last season that he\u2019s probably not an NFL-caliber quarterback.<\/p>\n

On Klubnik\u2019s first play, he was flushed out of the pocket and, in the face of pressure, connected with tight end Mason Taylor in the flat for a 12-yard gain. He made a mistake getting the ball to Breece Hall on the next play (it lost 5 yards) but bounced back with the Wilson connection a few plays later. All told, Klubnik completed 5 of 7 passes for 56 yards and led two scoring drives.<\/p>\n

Considering these were Klubnik\u2019s first reps with the starting offense, Glenn was impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has some moxie to him,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cHe\u2019s very confident, he\u2019s confident in his arm, confident in his ability to elude and make plays with his feet. His ability to be able to come out and operate with the first group the way he did, I thought, was outstanding. Still some things he has to learn, some mistakes he made in the game, but he\u2019s going to be quick to correct those.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Bailey\u2019s debut<\/p>\n

David Bailey, the second pick of April\u2019s draft, has had a dominant stretch of practices lately, especially against the Buccaneers. He played only eight snaps Friday, and they were only against Tampa\u2019s backups (no rematch with Bucs right tackle Luke Goedeke<\/a>). On those eight snaps, Bailey had one tackle on a running play and pressured the quarterback on another. When Will McDonald got a sack in the first quarter, Bailey was right there, too.<\/p>\n

Lineup decisions<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Isaiah Williams appears to have overtaken first-round rookie Omar Cooper as the starting slot. He\u2019s earned it with a stellar camp \u2014 few have performed better on either side of the ball, though the Jets would certainly like their first-round pick to make an impact. Cooper\u2019s playing style \u2014 he\u2019s known for making plays after the catch more than getting open on his own with speed \u2014 is better suited for a game atmosphere than practice. He did have a couple of moments Friday, including a 26-yard reception on a pass from Zappe where he broke open across the middle of the field. He finished with two catches for 31 yards and was open on some other routes where the QBs just didn\u2019t see him.<\/p>\n

Andre Cisco got the start at safety opposite Minkah Fitzpatrick, though Cisco and Dane Belton both got reps with the second-team defense. Cisco hasn\u2019t had a great summer \u2014 while Belton has been one of the standouts. Malachi Moore, a fourth-round pick a year ago, got his only reps with the third-team defense and didn\u2019t make a noticeable impact. He does not seem to be a serious threat to start.<\/p>\n

Azareye\u2019h Thomas and Jarvis Brownlee (nickel) got starts at corner, though their primary competitors (Nahshon Wright and D\u2019Angelo Ponds) were injured and out.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Davis was out so Braelon Allen got the bulk of the reps at running back. He scored on an impressive 31-yard touchdown run.<\/p>\n

An emerging UDFA<\/p>\n

The Jets\u2019 undrafted rookie class had been relatively quiet throughout training camp. But one member emerged Friday as a potential threat to make the 53-man roster: cornerback Mory Bamba.<\/p>\n

The BYU rookie got reps with the second-team defense, elevated since Qwan\u2019tez Stiggers and Wright were out due to injuries. On his first snap, Bamba tackled receiver Dennis Houston on a 4-yard reception. Later in the drive, Bamba forced an incompletion and then batted away a Connor Bazelak pass in the end zone to force a field goal attempt. He won in coverage again on the next possession, forcing an incompletion on third-and-long. For good measure he aced his role on punt coverage, too, tackling returner Garrett Greene as soon as he fielded a punt at the 20-yard line.<\/p>\n

Bamba left the game briefly to be checked for a concussion but cleared protocol, returned and forced another incompletion against Houston in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBamba Island?\u201d Glenn said, laughing.<\/p>\n

Bamba is an intriguing player. He spent seven years in college, three of them at junior colleges, so he\u2019s a 25-year-old rookie. He tested well enough in the pre-draft process (6-foot-2, 4.29 pro-day 40, 11-foot-1 broad jump) to catch the Jets\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n

If he can carve out a role on special teams, he has a shot at sticking around \u2014 if not on the active roster at least on the practice squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of Saturday\u2019s NFL preseason action. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 When Cade Klubnik was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,1723,514,82],"class_list":["post-859077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859077","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=859077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}