{"id":114908,"date":"2025-06-09T00:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/114908\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T00:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:56:08","slug":"todd-mcshay-likes-klubnik-shares-nfl-player-comp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/114908\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd McShay likes Klubnik, shares NFL player comp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay <\/a>had high praise for Clemson <\/a>quarterback Cade Klubnik<\/a> this week, offering a notable NFL comparison as Klubnik prepares for his senior season.<\/p>\n

On The McShay Show, McShay said Klubnik reminds him of Denver Broncos<\/a> quarterback Bo Nix, noting similarities in their feel for chaos and improvisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of Bo Nix in this kid,\u201d McShay said. \u201cHe\u2019s great when the play breaks down \u2014 climbing the pocket, sidestepping pressure. It\u2019s almost soothing for him. He also has that elastic arm. The ball comes out with more energy than you expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

McShay said he underestimated Nix during his time at Auburn but came to appreciate his development at Oregon. He now sees those same traits in Klubnik \u2014 mobility, size, arm flexibility, and poise under pressure \u2014 though he made clear that the comparison was about style, not necessarily ceiling.<\/p>\n

Klubnik enters the 2025 season as a potential first-round pick and legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. In 2024, he threw for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions, while rushing for 463 yards and seven more scores. He was one of only two FBS quarterbacks to throw for over 3,500 yards and rush for more than 400. His 43 total touchdowns were second most in the country.<\/p>\n

In McShay\u2019s Way-Too-Early 2026 NFL Mock Draft, he projected Klubnik to the Cleveland Browns at No. 5 overall, calling Clemson<\/a>\u2019s roster \u201cpossibly the most talented Dabo Swinney has had in a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Muench, McShay\u2019s co-host, offered a different comp: veteran NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think both Stafford and Klubnik are very tough, very smart,\u201d Muench said. \u201cHe makes confident throws, gets to his third read. That\u2019s what you want to see in a next-level guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

With both arm talent and experience, Klubnik will be a quarterback to watch closely this fall as NFL scouts continue to evaluate one of college football\u2019s most intriguing prospects.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Contact us\u00a0@Clemson_Wire<\/a>\u00a0on X, and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for ongoing coverage of\u00a0Clemson Tigers<\/a>\u00a0news and notes, plus opinions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay had high praise for Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik this week, offering a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[247,265,8048,925,232,1681,8168,318,339,231,258,12,388,7,379,3310,32,248,267,88,6,15,8049,245,537,530,9,266,3177,790],"class_list":{"0":"post-114908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-bo","11":"tag-bo-nix","12":"tag-broncos","13":"tag-clemson","14":"tag-clemson-tigers-football","15":"tag-college","16":"tag-college-sports","17":"tag-denver","18":"tag-denver-broncos","19":"tag-espn","20":"tag-espn-inc","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-inc","23":"tag-matthew","24":"tag-matthew-stafford","25":"tag-national","26":"tag-national-sports","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-nfl","29":"tag-nfl-draft","30":"tag-nix","31":"tag-overall","32":"tag-overall-positive","33":"tag-positive","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-sports-news","36":"tag-stafford","37":"tag-tigers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114650689264933931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}