Cade Klubnik is the Jets’ backup quarterback. Head coach Aaron Glenn confirmed the rookie fourth-round pick had won the job on August 31, after the club released Bailey Zappe and waived Brady Cook. The Jets are carrying two quarterbacks on the active roster, with Bailey Zappe re-signed to the practice squad on September 1, which puts a rookie one snap from the field.
It is the most consequential roster decision the Jets made this week, and it did not require a decision so much as a subtraction. Our Jets analysis hub follows the roster into Week 1, Klubnik’s player page carries the rest of his rookie season, and the current depth chart tracks where every position stands.
What did Aaron Glenn say about Cade Klubnik?
He was direct and unhedged. “He’s our backup quarterback, and he’ll do a good job,” Glenn said of the rookie, and when asked what earned it: “Just the confidence and how he operates and what he’s done in practice, what he’s done in the games. He’s a rookie, but he’s always learning.”
That is a warmer endorsement than Klubnik’s preseason line makes obvious. Across three games he went 21-of-34 for 190 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, added two carries for 22 yards, and was sacked four times. He started the first half of the 23–6 loss to the Giants. Nothing in there is a highlight reel. Glenn’s case rests on the practice field and the meeting room, which is where a coaching staff actually evaluates a backup quarterback and where the public cannot follow.
Who did Klubnik beat out?
Two quarterbacks with more professional experience, both of whom are gone.
Bailey Zappe was released and Brady Cook was waived on August 30, both in the reduction to the 53-man limit. Zappe was back two days later, re-signed to the practice squad on September 1. Neither move was forced by a numbers crunch elsewhere. The Jets simply chose to go into the season with one experienced quarterback and one rookie.
It is a reversal of how this organization has usually operated. We wrote in August about why the Jets carry three quarterbacks. This year they do not.
Who is the third quarterback?
Bailey Zappe, on the practice squad since September 1. The 16-man practice squad announced on August 31 went up without a passer on it, and the Jets added Zappe the following afternoon — Glenn had already said any third quarterback would be “a practice squad guy.”
Zappe is not an emergency stranger. He completed 60.9 percent of his passes this preseason, 14-of-23 for 135 yards with two interceptions, and he has 14 NFL games and eight starts behind him after New England drafted him in the fourth round in 2022. He spent 2025 on the Browns’ practice squad and signed a futures deal with the Jets in January.
The practical effect is still that the Jets dress exactly two quarterbacks. If Geno Smith goes down, Klubnik plays. A practice squad passer has to be elevated before kickoff, so Zappe is insurance across weeks rather than inside a game.
Neither roster is frozen. The Jets went into the week at 52 players rather than 53, and quarterbacks shake loose across the league in the first two weeks of September. Glenn left that door open: “We’re looking to add good players. If there’s another guy out there that we feel like can help this team, me and [Mougey] will have a conversation to see how that goes.”
What does this mean for the season?
It means the Jets have tied the season to Geno Smith’s availability more tightly than any other decision they made this summer.
Smith is in his 14th year and his second stint with the Jets, and there is no version of this roster that survives him missing extended time — not with a fourth-round rookie behind him and a practice squad arm behind the rookie. That is the risk the club has priced in.
There is a more optimistic reading, and it is the one Glenn appears to hold. Klubnik went back to Clemson for a senior season and fell to the fourth round anyway; a club that thought he was a career backup would not have handed him the job in September of his rookie year over two players who had already taken NFL snaps. Giving him the No. 2 role now is how a staff finds out what it has. The season opens Sunday, September 13 at Tennessee at 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS. Full detail on Glenn’s remarks is at ESPN.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the Jets’ backup quarterback in 2026?
Rookie Cade Klubnik, a fourth-round pick out of Clemson. Aaron Glenn confirmed the decision on August 31, 2026. Klubnik backs up Geno Smith, and the Jets are carrying only two quarterbacks on the active roster.
Do the Jets have a third quarterback?
Yes, on the practice squad. The Jets signed Bailey Zappe to the practice squad on September 1, 2026. Only Geno Smith and Cade Klubnik are on the active roster, so Zappe would have to be elevated before a game to be available.
What were Cade Klubnik’s preseason numbers?
Across three preseason games Klubnik completed 21 of 34 passes for 190 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, ran twice for 22 yards, and was sacked four times. He started the first half of the preseason finale against the Giants.