The New York Jets patiently waited to take a quarterback in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL draft.
Good things come to those who wait. With the No. 110 overall pick, the Jets traded up to select Clemson passer Cade Klubnik.
ESPN’s Matt Miller explained why this could be a diamond in the rough for the green and white.
“There is a track record of taking highly experienced college players and letting them play,” Miller told ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “You hate to make the [Brock] Purdy comparison because it’s so overused at this point, but if there’s going to be a Purdy in this year’s class, it’s going to be Klubnik because of the experience, the athletic ability, the arm, and the situation.”
Purdy, 26, was the No. 262 overall pick in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft, or more commonly referred to as Mr. Irrelevant. The former Iowa State product came into the league with tons of experience.
At the collegiate level, Purdy appeared in 48 games. He completed 993 passes on 1,467 passing attempts. With those opportunities, he completed 67.7% of his passes, threw for 12,170 passing yards, and had a 81 touchdown to 33 interception ratio.
In a way, he was uniquely qualified to step in if called upon at the NFL level. Across his brief four-year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers, he has already started in a Super Bowl, has been named a Pro Bowler, has led the league in passer rating, and is currently the sixth-highest-paid quarterback in football, per Over The Cap.
Inside Scoop
I spoke with the Voice of the Clemson Tigers, Don Munson, this week on “Boy Green Daily.”
During that conversation, he admitted that when the Jets traded up for Klubnik in the fourth round, that was earlier than they (people in and around Clemson) had anticipated him going.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic graded Klubnik as a fifth to sixth round pick in “The Beast.”
Klubnik, like Purdy, enters the NFL with a wealth of experience. He had 40 college starts during his run with the Tigers. Munson told me that he doesn’t think the Jets ending up with Klubnik is a random coincidence.
“Yeah, I think that’s important. That is probably one of the things that the Jets targeted with him was here is a guy who has already played a lot of football. He has played it at a high Division I level. It wasn’t at a mid-major; it was with a school that enjoyed a lot of success and had a lot of experience in winning,” Munson told me on the podcast.
The Perfect Development Plan for Klubnik
Geno Smith is the crowned QB1 for the Jets. At this current moment in time, Klubnik has a fighting chance to battle for the QB2 job based on the competition in the room.
However, the green and white are doing plenty of homework on the available veteran passers. If that person, whoever it is, gets brought in, they would likely assume the backup quarterback duties.
That would set up Klubnik to be the developmental third quarterback this year. Munson told me that if the Jets are “patient” with Klubnik and “let him develop,” we can see the 2024 Clemson version of him in the NFL one day.
“We could see that three years from now. Not this year, not next year, but about three years from now,” Munson told me.
To get that version of him that had scouts thinking he could be a potential top-five pick, Munson explained to me, that it has to be a full effort from the top down. That includes the coaching staff, the veteran quarterback(s) in the room, and Klubnik doing his part behind the scenes.
Analyst Shares Eyebrow Raising Brock Purdy Take About Jets QB Cade Klubnik