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On Monday, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn officially named Cade Klubnik the team’s #2.
“He’s our backup quarterback, and he’ll do a good job,” Glenn said.
The first part is obviously the case, but the second part remains to be seen.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini asked Glenn on Monday: “How much of a factor into making Cade the backup was the advantage of him being able to get the reps, like the scout team reps in practice?”
“That was a huge part of it,” Glenn said.
Some might debate this premise to a degree.
Of course, a rookie QB needs to get a ton of practice reps during the season; running the scout team against the starting defense is a valuable learning experience.
But you could argue a more important thing than that is who is one snap away from playing QB for your team if the starter gets hurt.
So a rookie getting scout team practice reps is important, but not as important as the ability of the player who is most snap away from having to lead your team at the most important position in the sport.
Glenn is seems confident in the player’s ability to handle the job.
“There’s just a confidence in how he operates and what he’s done in practice, what he’s done in the games,” Glenn said. “I don’t think anybody ever said there weren’t going to be hiccups. I mean, he’s a rookie, but he’s always learning, but he’s a very intelligent guy. Listen, we’re proud that we have him.”
NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms is confused by the Jets’ decision.
“I can’t believe it,” Simms said. “They are committing career suicide here with this one. I don’t understand it all.”
Simms, a former NFL QB, wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Klubnik in the rookie’s three preseason outings.
“It wasn’t that impressive in the preseason,” Simms said about Klubnik’s preseason performance. “It was a bunch of preseason crap. It really was. It’s just manipulated, oh, we got a completion because they’re playing the same coverage every play. You know, oh, here’s a shallow cross – that [expletive] ain’t gonna be open in the regular season.”
Klubnik threw no touchdown passes in the preseason. In comparison, Baltimore Ravens rookie free-agent QB Joe Fagnano, from UConn, threw 3 touchdown passes and added a rushing score.
But Glenn is very high on Klubnik, a fourth-round pick of the Jets in the 2026 draft from Clemson.
“He’s improved over the course of training camp, and he’s going to continue to improve,” Glenn said. “That room throughout training camp was a room that we kept a close eye on just to see how those guys operated, and man, Cade has done a really good job for us.”
Now, while positive thinking is important and has a lot of power, as Dr. Norman Vincent-Peale espoused, it’s not always going to help somebody be better than they are.
“I can’t believe they are going to go with Cade Klubnik as their backup,” Simms said.
Believe it.
However, it’s always possible, if Klubnik’s progression scans don’t take the next step, they could elevate Bailey Zappe from the practice squad on game day to be the primary backup.
September 1, 2026
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