Bills Urged to Extend Connor McGovern Before Center Market Explodes

Buffalo Bills' center Connor McGovern has quietly been one of the better interior offensive linemen in the NFL over the last two seasons.

Starting 17 games at left guard in 2023, followed by a seamless transition to center in 2024, McGovern is only under contract through 2025.

With one of Buffalo's top players set to hit the open market, it would benefit Brandon Beane if he got ahead on an extension, like he did for Khalil Shakir, Terrel Bernard, Greg Rousseau, and Christian Benford.

Following Philadelphia's latest extension, the center market just received a huge bump, with Cam Jurgens becoming the second-highest paid center in NFL history.

The contract for Jurgens places him behind only Creed Humphrey in AAV, and could be the beginning of a market reset for the anchors of the offensive line.

McGovern' previous contract with the Bills had an average annual salary of $7.45 million. A new contract at that current AAV would make him the ninth highest paid center following the Jurgens extension, but an appropriate pay bump to get him in between $10-12 million in AAV would put him just outside the top five highest paid centers, as Greg Tompsett projects.

Other centers set to hit free agency in 2026 include Baltimore's Tyler Linderbaum and Denver's Luke Wattenberg. If those teams choose to get ahead of the expiring contract with an early extension, it would change the AAV needed to keep McGovern among the highest paid at his position.

Dec 29, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) and guard Connor McGovern (66) at the line of scrimmage in the third quarter against the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium. / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images