Jets fans waiting for the team to add a veteran backup quarterback are going to have to continue waiting.

Jets coach Aaron Glenn announced Monday that rookie Cade Klubnik will be Geno Smith’s backup to open the season. 

“He’s our backup quarterback and he’ll do a good job,” Glenn said. 

It has been trending this way for weeks but it is still a mild surprise that the Jets will enter the season with Klubnik one injury away from being their starter. The team drafted Klubnik in the fourth round of April’s draft out of Clemson.

He played in all three preseason games, starting two. He went 16-for-27 passing for 134 yards with one interception. He led them on three scoring drives, but did not throw a touchdown pass. 

Glenn acknowledged that part of the decision to give the No. 2 job to Klubnik is the practice reps he will get and how that will help him develop. Backup quarterbacks usually run the scout team offense in practice against the starting defense. 

“That was a huge part of it,” Glenn said. 

But Glenn also pointed out everything he liked about Klubnik. 

“It’s just the confidence and how he operates and what he’s done in practice and what he’s done in the games,” Glenn said. “I don’t think anybody ever said that there weren’t going to be hiccups. He’s a rookie. But he’s always learning. He’s a very intelligent guy. We’re proud that we have him. He’s improved over the course of training camp and he’s going to continue to improve.

“Cade has done a really good job for us.” 

The Jets are expected to bring veteran Bailey Zappe back on their practice squad as the No. 3 quarterback. Zappe has been with the Jets all offseason. The team also had Brady Cook, who started four games at the end of last season, on the roster but they waived him Sunday and he was surprisingly claimed by the Dolphins. 

Klubnik has been unfazed by the spotlight on him this summer. He was a surprise starter in the first preseason game against the Buccaneers after Smith was a late scratch with ankle soreness. Klubnik has been under the microscope for a long time as a quarterback. He was the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the country coming out of high school in Texas. He became a starter at Clemson at the end of his freshman year and played in many big games for the Tigers, including ACC Championships and the College Football Playoff. 

Klubnik was projected by some to be a first-round pick before last season but he had a terrible season as he battled injuries and the entire Clemson team struggled. That made him last in the draft and the Jets moved up to get him in the fourth round. 

Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich has spoken highly of Klubnik all spring and summer. Before last week’s Giants game, he praised Klubnik’s work against the Steelers in the preseason. 

“He’s extremely poised,” Reich said. “I mean, probably my favorite play for him in the [Steelers] game was when we were backed up and we drop back in the pocket and he’s in the end zone, and we called something to the right that I thought was going to be a get it out, quick thing, and they covered it and so he had to progress all the way back to the No. 3 guy on the backside, and man, he just looked extremely poised in the pocket. That’s hard to do for a quarterback in the NFL. Standing in the end zone, No. 1’s not open, No. 2’s not open, OK let me work back here to No. 3 and I’m standing in the end zone. He did it like he’s been doing it for years, so that was probably, for him, my favorite play. So, he’s made good progress.”

The Jets now have to hope he’s ready if Smith gets sidelined.