Jets re-sign center Connor McGovern
kNew York Jets center Connor McGovern at training camp in Florham Park, New Jersey in 2022. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Center Connor McGovern re-signed with the Jets on Monday, the team announced. McGovern, who turns 30 on Thursday, has started 48 games over the past three seasons with the Jets. He was the only Jet to play every snap on offense last season.
If things go as expected, McGovern will be snapping the ball to Aaron Rodgers this season. Trade discussions between the Jets and Packers have started again and likely will pick up this week with the three-day NFL Draft beginning on Thursday.
One of the Jets’ two second-round picks likely would go to Green Bay in a deal for Rodgers as well as some conditional draft capital next year.
The Jets addressed a position of need with McGovern’s re-signing. They added Wes Schweitzer and Trystan Colon in free agency, but those were mostly depth additions across the interior of the offensive line.
There was talk of the Jets signing former Titans center Ben Jones. He played under Keith Carter in Tennessee. Carter is the Jets’ new offensive line coach.
There also has been speculation that the Jets would use one of their Day 2 picks (No. 42 or 43) on a center. The Jets could still go that route in what's considered a good draft for centers. Wisconsin’s Joe Tippman or Minnesota’s John Michael-Schmitz are possibilities with one of the Jets’ second-round picks, presuming they keep both of them.
Regardless, the Jets likely will look to bolster the offensive line. They pick 13th in the first round, and all signs point to them taking an offensive tackle. The Jets need depth at that spot. Their top four tackles last year were on injured reserve.
The return of the durable McGovern means four of the five main starters from last year’s offensive line are back. McGovern joins left tackle Duane Brown, left guard Laken Tomlinson and right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, who proved last year he could play all across the line.
A slimmed-down Mekhi Becton, who has played just one game the past two seasons, could compete for the left tackle spot. If not, Becton and returning tackle Max Mitchell and whomever the Jets draft at 13, if indeed it's an offensive tackle, could battle for right tackle position.
McGovern, a fifth-round pick of the Broncos in 2017, originally signed a three-year deal with the Jets in 2020. He’s missed just two games as a Jet and only three over his last five seasons, playing 98% of his team offensive snaps in that time.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
