The Buffalo Bills focused this offseason on extending their homegrown players, securing the framework of Western New York football for at least the next four years. Last week, Brandon Beane confirmed that rising star running back James Cook and the team were far apart on numbers for an extension for him, even going as far as to say they don’t expect a deal anytime soon.
Now, we’ve learned of more contract extension talks, this time it’s about another rising star and very important part of the team, center Connor McGovern.
Appearing on the most recent podcast from Cover1, a longtime contributor and staple of Bills’ media, McGovern himself revealed the extension talks. “We’ve had talks as early on as soon as I got back from the Pro Bowl talks started going, tabled that for right now,” the Pro Bowler said. “I still have a year left in my contract, I'm not worried about it; play it out.”
Coming over from Dallas as a free agent in the 2023 offseason, McGovern has been in Buffalo for two seasons now. The first was as the team's starting left guard, where he was great. This season, however, they flipped him to center after releasing veteran Mitch Morse. McGovern excelled, and clearly the Bills view him as the long-term answer anchoring the middle of their offensive line.
Bills need to do whatever it takes to keep the continuity in Buffalo
While the 6’5” and varying 328lbs center understands the NFL is a business, he wants to remain in Buffalo long-term. I would like to stay in Buffalo long-term,” he said. “I would like to stay, love Buffalo, love the guys in the locker room, love the fans, love the town, everything about it, so I’d love to stay here.”
We’ve seen the Bills emphasize having good center play the entire time general manager Brandon Beane has been running the show. They went out and got Mitch Morse in 2019, handed him multiple extensions, and then gave McGovern a three-year $22.3 million deal to prepare for the eventual departure of Morse.
The team has also always made sure they’ve had good depth at center as well. Last draft they even took a three-year Georgia starter packed with potential, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. There’s no doubt McGovern is viewed as an extremely valuable player to Beane and staff.
Reigning MVP quarterback Josh Allen definitely views McGovern that way as well. Last season, the former Penn State Nittany Lion allowed zero sacks, and zero quarterback hits on 959 snaps-played.
Those double zeros graded out to be the best in the league among all centers last season, hence the Pro Bowl nomination. McGovern is a big reason why the Bills have deployed not only the best offensive line Josh Allen has played with, but also one of the best overall units in the league.
In terms of a locker room guy, and team chemistry builder, McGovern is atop that list for the Bills. The former Cowboys third-round pick loves to cook and regularly hosts pizza parties for the team. He revealed on the Cover1 podcast that it’s not just for players, but the families of players, and even some of the coaching staff come as well.
McGovern has slid right into helping the Bills be one of the best teams in the league and making it to the AFC Championship this past season. Not only by his play but from a very underrated aspect of helping build team chemistry, simply from the fact he enjoys cooking. He’s an integral piece of the team and at only 27-years-old, figures to factor into the team for years to come. He’s a player I had listed heading into the offseason that the Bills needed to extend.
"One extension not a lot of people are talking about possibly happening, is center Connor McGovern. He made the switch from guard last season and proved he’s the team’s future at the position. McGovern is set to be a free agent next off-season, and anchoring down the middle of the Bills offensive line has been a priority in the past and should remain that way. A three-year deal makes sense and locks up Dawkins, Spencer Brown, and McGovern for the next few years, with rising guard O’Cyrus Torrence still having two years left on his rookie deal."Joe Cook February 7, 2025
We’ve grown accustomed to seeing a big contract extension for a player at the end of almost every training camp by Brandon Beane. McGovern is the obvious candidate for that, and Bills fans should hope it is. Knowing the team has had extension talks with him, provides a relief.