Clemson’s Cade Klubnik projected to take over $40M QB’s job for AFC franchise

Heading into the 2025 college football season, Clemson QB Cade Klubnik is projected to be one of the top QBs in his class. After a stellar second season as the starter for the Tigers, Klubnik is now getting ready for the final season of his college career. His performance will determine whether he is a top pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

Although it is still early for projections for next year’s draft, that has not stopped many pundits on draft experts. In late April, Pro Football Focus conducted a first-round mock draft. They set their draft order based on each team’s odds of making the Super Bowl.

In their mock draft, Cade Klubnik was the second QB selected and fourth player overall. Texas QB Arch Manning went second to the Cleveland Browns and then Klubnik was selected fourth by the New York Jets in the AFC.

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The Jets make sense as a destination for Klubnik because they do not have a stable QB situation. They signed veteran QB Justin Fields to a two-year, $40 million contract this offseason. Although Fields is still only 26 years old, he has not been overly successful as a starting QB. He has proven that he can fill in as a starter if needed, but he is not a star.

So, it would not be surprising if, after one season with Fields starting, the Jets draft a QB if they have a top pick next offseason. Cade Klubnik is projected to be one of the top options in the 2026 NFL draft.

Cade Klubnik emerges as the top QB in college football, according to CFB analyst Joel Klatt

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt shared his list of the top 10 QBs heading into the 2025 college football season on Tuesday. While many analysts project Texas QB Arch Manning to be the top QB, Joel Klatt favors Clemson’s Cade Klubnik.

He believes in Klubnik as a player and also thinks Clemson will have an improved season. As a result, he thinks that Klubnik will have the best QB in college football next season.

It is not hard to see why Klubnik has so many believers heading into next season. This past season, he had a big breakout, completing 308 of 486 passing attempts for 3639 yards and 36 TDs. He did this while throwing only six interceptions. He led Clemson to an ACC championship and an appearance in the college football playoff.

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Alexander O’Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex’s favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex’s favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex’s proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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