At this time a year ago, Cade Klubnik was being talked about as a candidate for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

After a down 2025 season, though, his stock plummeted, prompting him to fall to the New York Jets in the fourth round. While history shows that finding a long-term quarterback on Day 3 is very rare for teams around the league, a crazy metric shared by analyst Adam Carter puts Klubnik in elite company.

Since 2012, there have only been six quarterback prospects in their best NCAA season to log an uncatchable throw rate below 20%, a big-time throw rate under pressure above 7%, and a pressure-to-sack rate under 20%, while averaging more than 40 rushing yards per game.

Klubnik’s 2024 season makes him one of those six quarterbacks, alongside Drake Maye, Dak Prescott, Jaxson Dart, Patrick Mahomes, and Cole Payton, a fellow QB in this year’s draft who compiled those numbers against FCS competition.

Obviously, that is an extremely specific set of criteria, but it shows that Klubnik demonstrated some high-level traits back in his junior year.

Mahomes, Dart, and Maye were each first-round picks. Prescott, like Klubnik, was a fourth-round selection. The Cowboys’ starter has become one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and he stands among the greatest fourth-round steals in NFL history.

Will Klubnik follow in Prescott’s footsteps?

Which Cade Klubnik will the Jets get?

In 2024, Klubnik was among the elite quarterbacks in college football, steering Clemson to a 10-4 record while completing 63.4% of his passes for 3,639 yards, 36 passing touchdowns, and six interceptions, adding seven rushing touchdowns.

During the 2025 season, though, he looked like a completely different player, which led to his draft stock rapidly falling. The Tigers went 7-5, their worst mark in over a decade, while he tossed for 2,943 yards, 16 touchdowns, and six interceptions, while scoring just four rushing touchdowns.

The Jets took a gamble on him in the fourth round, hoping that he would rediscover his 2024 form. As Jets X-Factor’s Michael Nania dissected, his fall off in 2025 couldn’t be entirely blamed on his supporting cast, despite Clemson’s overall struggles as a team.

The main areas of his game that declined were his deep-passing aggressiveness, play-action success, and rushing prowess.

For Klubnik to have any chance of sticking around in New York over the next couple of seasons, the Jets’ offensive coaching staff must find the root cause of his nosedive last season. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave, who both have extensive coaching experience in the league, will have their work cut out for them.

Ultimately, it is easy to see why the Jets thought it was worthwhile to throw an early Day 3 dart at Klubnik. He has shown elite flashes in the college ranks and has a large sample size to study (49 college starts). As evidenced by the company he keeps in the stat shared by Adam Carter, there is a slim chance that Klubnik could turn into something special at the NFL level.

While it is unlikely he turns into a Patrick Mahomes or Dak Prescott-type player, Gang Green would happily settle for him developing into a long-term QB2.