After selecting Cade Klubnik, the New York Jets are hopeful that the former Clemson standout can be anything that he was expected to be with the Tigers.
Throughout parts of his college career, he looked like everything that Clemson was expecting him to be. At other times, he was rather average, something that we didn't expect to say of a quarterback as highly rated as he was coming out of high school.
There's a lot to take away from what we saw of Klubnik, but there isn't much history on his side for a few reasons.
Not only have the Jets not shown the ability to develop quarterbacks at a high level, but there also aren't exactly a slew of late-round picks who go on to the NFL at quarterback and end up being stars. In fact, only three since 2016 have started at least 20 games.
“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. The draft is a fickle business. Prospects can go from blue chip to feeling blue in a matter of months… The Jets haven't 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 (2024), James Morgan (2020), Christian Hackenberg (2016) and Tajh Boyd (2014).
“It's 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 (139), Gardner Minshew (47) and Brock Purdy (45),” Rich Cimini of ESPN wrote.
There's a chance that Klubnik could be somebody like Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy, but there's a better chance that he's someone who doesn't end up becoming a guaranteed starter like those two, just like most other late-round quarterbacks in the NFL.