Off-Season Position Breakdowns: QB

Edition #1098: Now that free agency and the draft is complete, we largely know the team we're heading to camp with. Let's start breaking them down.

Good Morning ☕

Despite it being the non-contact portion of the off-season. It’s great to see some of the players back on the field.

There are a lot of very cliche expressions that you can throw around at this time of the year. Bear Bryant’s “Championships are won in the off-season” comes to mind, or even the famous Benjamin Franklin quote “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.

I don’t seriously have championship aspirations for this team but sports is a funny old thing. The Mets entered the 2026 season with those title aspirations and they currently own the worst record in baseball. My Japanese baseball team the Yakult Swallows entered the season with everyone picking them to finish dead last in the Central, and right now they’re tied for the most wins in the league.

For as much as we think we know sports, it’s unpredictable. If you’d have put $10 on a Super Bowl matchup that saw the Seahawks face the Patriots, you’d have won over $15k. The Seahawks were 60-1 to make the big game, the Patriots 80-1. The Jets are currently 200-1 to win a championship next season, worth a punt.

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• Jaden Keller who was signed after a successful tryout apparently turned plenty of heads during rookie minicamp with his speed and versatility. (Connor Hughes).

• According to the updated strength of schedule which is based on 2025 team records and as such doesn’t mean a great deal…the Jets have the 12th toughest schedule in the NFL this year, but the easiest in the AFC East.

• It seems that Harrison Phillips has taken new acquisition T’Vondre Sweat under his wing: ‘I’ve tried to put him under my wing. We’ve been working out in all of our workouts together … It’s really fun pushing each other. If I do beat him at something I make sure to [say], you’re letting an old guy beat you? 🤣 👴 If he beats me at something he makes sure to let me know.’ (Jake Asman)

• The Jets released a really nice behind the scenes video from rookie camp. You can check that out HERE. Apparently David Bailey doesn’t wear gloves because he feels faster without them.

• Breece Hall has been speaking about why he decided to return to the Jets by signing a new three year deal, and it comes down to two things. AG and Mougey building out the roster:

  • “Just the fact that they brought a proven veteran like Geno Smith and then we drafted some really good guys, and I’m still getting to know everybody, too. So just seeing that let me know that, OK, we’re really trying to build something here. And AG always telling me that I’m his guy. So him always instilling that confidence or telling me that he has that confidence in me, and the confidence I have in myself is very big. So, it definitely meant a lot for me because they showed me and told me that they wanted me to be a part of this thing. So, I’m definitely happy to be here.”

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The Quarterbacks 🟢⚪🗽

We’re going to start working our way through the Jets roster as we get closer and closer to camp. We’ve got a long time with mandatory minicamp still over a month away and training camp around 2 months away. We don’t have a definitive date yet for training camp but it seems to always sit around July 14th-24th. Somewhere in there.

So we have time. A lot of time.

We’re going to take this one position at a time, starting today with the most important position on the field. The quarterbacks.

Starter - Geno Smith

Backup - ????

Third String - Cade Klubnik

Practice Squad/Cut Candidates - Brady Cook, Bailey Zappe

A lot can change through the course of the next 3 months, but right now I think it’s safe to assume a couple of things about this position and the Jets.

Geno Smith is undoubtedly the starter, the Jets are still searching for that veteran backup and the team are high on Cade Klubnik’s development.

There is a world where Cade get’s elevated to that backup role with + performance through camp which in turn moves Cook or Zappe up. But the Jets are high on Russell Wilson and the expectation is if it’s not him then another veteran will join to offer a steady presence behind Geno.

Geno Smith

How far the Jets go will depend on what Geno they get.

Are we getting the 2022-2024 Geno who won 27 games with the Seahawks completed over 65% of his passes for over 12,000 yards with 71 TDs to 35 INTs.

Or are we getting the 2025 Geno who threw for only 3,025 yards while throwing 17 interceptions to 19 TDs while taking a career high 55 sacks in 15 games.

There were some signs that his late season renaissance bubble had burst in 2024, despite completing over 70% of his passes for 4320 yards. That year he had 15 debilitating interceptions and 9 fumbles. Turning the ball over 24 times will generate a lot of negative momentum.

But make no mistake about it, Geno was on a truly abysmal football team last season that was severely lacking in talent at several key positions that directly impact the QBs ability to succeed.

The Jets have done all they can to put him in a completely different position. They already got their bookend tackles, they drafted two huge offensive weapons, tied up the RB and ensured that Garrett Wilson could hit the ground running this off-season after sitting him down the stretch in 2025.

Geno will be surrounded by experience in offensive coordinator Frank Reich and QB coach Bill Musgrave. If he fails, it won’t be on the Jets.

Backup

I’m hopeful that the backup spot will eventually go to Cade where he’ll have to play a few snaps here and there to get his feet wet. Bringing in Russell Wilson just doesn’t excited me and while I understand the calls for another veteran, there isn’t a lot out there. Some have pointed to Jimmy Garoppolo, but apparently he’s considering retirement, and if you’re considering it, your head is already there and it’s time to hang them up.

Cade Klubnik