{"id":712678,"date":"2026-01-29T00:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/712678\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T00:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:26:14","slug":"cade-klubnik-thankful-for-adversity-he-never-faced-before-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/712678\/","title":{"rendered":"Cade Klubnik thankful for adversity he ‘never faced before’ NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 28, 2026, 6:36 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Cade Klubnik hadn\u2019t dealt with a ton of adversity before the 2025 season. That much he will tell you.<\/p>\n

But it is no secret that Klubnik and his Clemson team encountered a less than ideal year full of ups and downs throughout the year, ultimately finishing out the season with a 7-6 overall record. That marked the worst record the Tigers had held in the Dabo Swinney era since 2010 when they went 6-7.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a difficult season as a whole to not get the goals we wanted achieved,\u201d Klubnik told me. \u201cBut I\u2019m extremely thankful for it\u2026 We have not faced much of any of that in my football career. We had to learn how to truly lean on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klubnik himself went from the No. 1 draft-eligible overall prospect for some to a player largely off the the radar, though how much blame should be placed directly on him is up for debate after Clemson\u2019s other shortcomings on both offense and defense.<\/p>\n

The Tigers signal-caller ultimately finished out the season with a 65.6% completion rate, passing for 2,943 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. But this season \u2014 and the split opinions surrounding Klubnik \u2014 do not define him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He knows what he brings to the table and doesn\u2019t doubt himself in the slightest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re going to get from me is a winner,\u201d he said. “Knowing how to win and lead guys and push them to be their best. Just the excitement of it all is great \u2014 being able to watch myself get better and being really content with where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, with that, he\u2019s happy to have the experience on rough seas that he encountered in 2025 under his belt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for every quarterback to face adversity in their college career,\u201d Klubnik said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of adversity in the NFL, it doesn\u2019t matter how good you are. That\u2019s what the good guys in the NFL are made of \u2014 being able to handle really crappy situations really well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking at the draft class where Klubnik is concerned in terms of the next level, multiple sources have indicated that he should be the third quarterback coming off the board. While Klubnik will likely be selected early and has put up a lot of solid tape throughout his career, he\u2019s very self-aware and dedicated to improving in the areas he\u2019s still not fully developed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my biggest focus has been continuing to work on my footwork and making off-platform throws,\u201d Klubnik said. \u201cBeing able to manage the offense whenever it comes down to red-zone, situational football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those areas are some in which Klubnik showed improvement in throughout Shrine Bowl practices, though he did not take part in the game itself ultimately. Klubnik was one of the best quarterbacks in the showcase, impressing with his accuracy and also showing flashes of mobility when it was needed.<\/p>\n

His performance earned him a spot on the East Team\u2019s All-Practice Team. Klubnik says he believes his consistency through the air and scrambling ability are the two things that should impress scouts the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to be mobile is huge. With the ability that pass-rushers and linebackers have and the overall speed that they play with now, it\u2019s so violent,\u201d Klubnik said. \u201cA scramble is the highest-efficiency play in football. Being able to make those plays is a necessity and the quarterback position and I feel like I align with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Klubnik has highly impressed from a tangibles perspective in terms of his sound mechanics, ball placement and more, but what really shines through is the person and teammate he is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that, above all, will be greatly valued at the NFL level.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates would tell you I\u2019m a very energetic guy whose passion and heart is for the team. And that it shows it through his work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 28, 2026, 6:36 p.m. ET Cade Klubnik hadn\u2019t dealt with a ton of adversity before the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95878,7,6,97135,97136,95882,96027,100398,95896,95888,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-712678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sstssportsnfldraft","12":"tag-sstsndraft","13":"tag-tagamerican-football","14":"tag-tagcollege-sports","15":"tag-tagdabo-swinney","16":"tag-tagnational-sports","17":"tag-tagnfl","18":"tag-tagoverall-positive","19":"tag-tagsports-news","20":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115975552077947113","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712678","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=712678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}