Ok, New York Jets fans, this is your first test of the offseason. Do your best not to go full tilt each time something positive is shared about one of the team\u2019s fresh-faced youngsters. <\/p>\n
This advice especially pertains to quarterback Cade Klubnik. <\/p>\n
Then again, it\u2019s tough to avoid hellbent excitement when a young quarterback is making substantially positive waves. After all, the Jets fan hasn\u2019t enjoyed a bona fide \u201cfranchise quarterback\u201d since Joe Namath \u2014 with all due apologies to the likes of Chad Pennington and Ken O\u2019Brien. <\/p>\n
The precisely-prepped rookie<\/p>\n
If Klubnik had his way, the Jets\u2019 depressing quarterback drought would end immediately. The rookie fourth-rounder<\/a> feels his immediate past prepared him for his current National Football League reality. <\/p>\n \u201cIn my mind, I\u2019m a winner,\u201d Klubnik told the media after Saturday\u2019s on-field session. \u201cI don\u2019t mean that in a boastful way; I just think that\u2019s the mentality you [must have] as a quarterback. [I also] think that my resume has shown that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Klubnik\u2019s resume is undboutedly impressive. His 10,123 passing yards rank third in school history, and his 73-24 touchdown-to-interception mark is impressive on many levels. <\/p>\n The kid\u2019s winning ways in Death Valley were always of sparkling note, too. That was, until Clemson\u2019s 2025 dreams were dashed. <\/p>\n Dabo Swinney\u2019s squad got off to a horrid 3-5 start. Suddenly, the 10-win, College Football Playoff-participating Tigers fell off an unpredictable yet metaphorical cliff \u2014 courtesy of their valley venue \u2014 which is something of an unrecognizable occurrence around those parts. <\/p>\n Though disappointing, the Jets\u2019 newest quarterback believes in the importance of the struggle. <\/p>\n \u201cThis past year, we didn\u2019t win as much,\u201d Klubnik offered up without a semblance of a nudge to delve into the depressing stuff. \u201cWe started the year 3-5 at Clemson, [which is] a tough place to be. That\u2019s a really tough place to be at Clemson \u2014 my senior year, with 19 starters coming back, and huge aspirations and dreams we had as a team, and we really didn\u2019t fulfill those.\u201d<\/p>\n Such a situation is just one of the reasons why young Klubnik believes in himself at the professional level.<\/p>\n If Jets fans were to dream their coziest scenario, Saturday\u2019s rookie minicamp session would represent just the first in a long line of subliminal signs that the Jets did, indeed, move, shake, and ultimately draft geniusly in late April\u2019s fourth round. <\/p>\n Klubnik has an idea out there<\/p>\n Unlike Friday\u2019s opener<\/a>, the second day of the New York Jets rookie minicamp was the first to allow the media a glimpse into team sessions. While the team wasn\u2019t padded up and the session felt more like a learning phase than full-tilt physicality, Klubnik showed positive signs in a live 11v11 environment. <\/p>\n The Jets\u2019 rookie signal-caller hit classmate Kenyon Sadiq a couple of times (consecutively), with one completion contrasting with the other.<\/p>\n A couple of Klubnik to Sadiq plays\u2026 First, a quick one; instant read post-snap. Next, a longer-developing one that would have been close to pressure or near-sack. Layered, covered well everywhere, but Klubnik stuck with the correct secondary read against that coverage.<\/p>\n