Connor McGovern thought his NFL career was over. Then the Jets called.
Jets center Connor McGovern blocks at the line of scrimmage during the second half an NFL game against the New England Patriots on Sept. 24, 2023, at MetLife Stadium. Credit: AP/Bryan Woolston
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Connor McGovern was sitting on his couch at home in North Dakota on Monday night watching the Jets play the 49ers. Well, maybe not always sitting. The 31-year-old offensive lineman — whose season, and, even he presumed, his career had ended when he dislocated his kneecap and tore his MCL while playing for the Jets against the Giants last October — was doing some jumping around, too, as he urged on his former team.
His wife asked why he was getting so worked up, considering he didn’t even play for the Jets any longer.
“Those are my boys out there,” he told her.
On Thursday, McGovern was back with the boys.
He returned to the Jets as a practice squad player, signing a contract on Wednesday afternoon after a quick workout to show that his surgically-repaired knee was up to the challenge. On Thursday, he was snapping the ball as a fourth-string center and holding blocking pads for the starters to demolish, the kinds of jobs that the back-back-backups on the p-squad tend to do.
That’s a big difference from the role he held almost a year ago when he was the Jets’ starting center, a position he’d held since 2020. McGovern said he had very little interest in returning to the NFL as a mere practice squadder — and by the way, the NFL had very little interest in him returning to it in any capacity — but there was always one team he kept saying he would make an exception for.
So when the Jets, who had always kept communication open with him, called with a potential offer, even one for this somewhat menial opportunity, McGovern was on the next flight to New Jersey.
He might not get to appear in a regular season game this season, but that doesn’t even matter.
It’s just about being here. And being here for the winning.
“It’s a special team, you can see it, feel it,” he said. “I’ve been a part of this [organization] for a long time and I would be sad if I wasn’t here for when the thing flips and the Jets are back on track.”
McGovern figures he’ll be able to add another veteran voice to the offensive line room and resume his mentorship of Joe Tippmann, the second-year center whom he helped groom last year and who eventually took over his job.
“I’m pumped to have him back,” Tippmann said. “He’s always helped me out.”
“He and I can keep watching film together and keep bouncing things off each other,” McGovern said. “I’m proud to keep working with him and proud that he still values my opinion.
McGovern was so sure that his knee injury was a career-ender that immediately after his diagnosis he called his wife and told her: “This is it, we’re hangin’ 'em up.”
But his agent eventually persuaded him not make a decision so hastily and so McGovern went through with his surgery and his rehab with an eye on returning to the league. It was a grueling recovery, stunted a bit, McGovern admitted, by his age.
“I normally take pride on being a quick healer and as I hit 30, well, I think I’m pretty average now,” he said with a laugh. “I tried to be an overachiever, and I wasn’t overachieving.”
When training camps opened in July, McGovern wasn’t quite ready to go through those kinds of rigors. Now, though, he feels healthy enough to contribute, at least the couple times a week he’ll at first be asked to do so.
And his new job gives him a front-row seat to what still is, despite Monday’s loss, the most highly-anticipated season in recent Jets history. Much better than the seat back home in North Dakota that he barely used, even.
Having grinded through so many disappointments during his tenure with the team, there was no way he was going to miss out on its potential success, even if it means being one of the last names on the bottom of the roster.
“If or when this team goes to the playoffs and if I wasn't helping in some capacity, I'd be pretty disappointed if I didn't seize any opportunity to be part of it,” he said. “I had to come have another ride with this group and be a part of something special.
“I feel like this is my team and I am excited to be back and help in any way possible.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.