Bills Sign OG Connor McGovern

The Buffalo Bills made their first free agency addition of the 2023 offseason by signing OG Connor McGovern to a three-year, $23 million deal Monday afternoon, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

McGovern, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, who selected him 90th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. He played three years of college football at Penn State before forgoing his senior season to enter the draft. McGovern took the majority of snaps at right guard his freshman and junior seasons, but started all 13 games at center his sophomore season.

As for his NFL stats, here’s what we know about the Buffalo Bills new interior linemen. (He missed his rookie season in 2019 due to a torn pectoral muscle.)

New #Bills OG Connor McGovern’s first 3 seasons:

2020:
14 games (8 starts)
1 penalty
3 sacks allowed
61.7 PFF grade

2021:
16 games (6 starts)
2 penalties
1 sack allowed
68.7 PFF grade

2022:
15 games (15 starts)
1 penalty
2 sacks allowed
52.2 PFF grade#BillsMafia

— Kevin Siracuse (@kevin_siracuse) March 13, 2023

Protecting Josh Allen

Going into this offseason, one of the main goals was figuring out how to protect QB Josh Allen. McGovern is an immediate upgrade in that category, as he was one of the best pass protectors in the NFL.

Connor McGovern graded out at the no. 13 interior offensive lineman with a 76.6 pass block grade last season, per @PFF. For comparison's sake, Chris Lindstrom graded out with a 81.7.

McGovern allowed two sacks all season and gave up 23 pressures.

— Matt Parrino (@MattParrino) March 13, 2023

The signing gives the Buffalo Bills seven offensive linemen who are currently under contract in their top 51 in terms of cap hits. (Greg Mancz, Alec Anderson, and Ryan Van DeMark were signed to reserve/future contracts at the end of the season.) McGovern played left guard for the Cowboys in 2022 but has that experience at right guard. For now, we’ll slot him in as Buffalo’s starting left guard.

Here’s a look at the current state of the depth chart:

Current #Bills OL Depth Chart:

LT: D. Dawkins, T. Doyle
LG: C. McGovern, I. Boettger
C: M. Morse
RG: R. Bates
RT: S. Brown

(McGovern and Bates have the flexibility to switch positions if the Bills choose to do so.) #BillsMafia

— Kevin Siracuse (@kevin_siracuse) March 13, 2023

If they feel like it would be a better fit, the Bills could move Ryan Bates to LG and put Connor McGovern back to RG given the positional flexibility of both players. Funny enough, McGovern and Bates were college teammates at Penn State from 2016-18.

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Featured Image: Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News