This is actually a problem with the schema utils not allowing or default to ignoringUnknownFields:
https://github.com/confluentinc/schema-registry/blob/20a98f3c4af1ffd804d8e41a2f274d48b1418b97/protobuf-provider/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/schemaregistry/protobuf/ProtobufSchemaUtils.java#L103-L108
What we expect: When producing protobufs as JSON with new (compatible) fields to Kafka, those fields are ignored before the latest registered schema is evolved to include them
What happens: Bad Request: Cannot find field: XXX in message