The Connor McGovern @ Center Experiment -- How Do You See it Going So Far?

[BarleyNY]

5 hours ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

I did a search here and not much came up.

 

Yes, it has only been two pre-season games however I don't like what I am seeing so far from our interior OL in general and specifically Connor McGovern at Center.

 

Since I never liked the idea of taking a player with so little NFL experience at Center being move to there as the starter perhaps posters more versed in OL Center play can convince me otherwise. 

 

I appreciate Connor McGovern played Center in college however after being the starter in Center for one year, the next year he played his final year in college at Guard.

 

Given this position handles the ball on each and every play and it protects our $250M investment in our QB, normally calls the OL play and is often the key to opening rushing lanes between the tackles, should I be concerned?

 

I don’t know that we have much info on our OL. Preseason week one they looked terrible, but I do not put much stock in that. Easy for the Bills’ starters to be less emotionally invested in that fake game versus what I’d expect from a team like the Bears who likely were looking to show thst they’re turning things around. The OL looked much better against the Steelers, but they didn’t play their best DL. I don’t think we will really know what we have until week 4 or 5 of the regular season. 

[UConn James]

Some of McGovern’s snaps in TC video and in first ps game looked low / Josh had to reach for them.
 

Would be more comfortable putting SVP there and just making the one change on the line. He anchored the OLine for Georgia through two Nattys and that’s not nothing in the SEC.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 hours ago, msw2112 said:

Keep in mind that the move of McGovern to center took place before the draft and before they knew they'd be able to pick up SVPG with a 5th round pick.  I assume they decided to stick with the plan and felt that going with an experienced NFL player was the safer bet than going with a rookie at that position.  I agree that long-term, SVPG will be the answer and McGovern will be moved back to guard, or off the roster to save cap space, depending on how well David Edwards plays as a starter and how Torrence's career progresses.

Sad that a HC picks the plan before the draft and before training camp.

Shouldn't they all be competing for jobs?

 

 

[billsfan89]

7 hours ago, msw2112 said:

Torrence was bad the other night, but he had a solid rookie season and I think that the line will come together by the time the season starts.  Although many here don't like McDermott, he's not a complete moron and Kromer is a proven OL coach, so I don't think the Bills would push this experiment too far unless they had a pretty good idea that it can work.  There are other options on the roster such as Clapp, SVP, etc.  (I thought that Alec Anderson took some snaps at center too, but I could be wrong), so if McGovern is a disaster at center, they'd reconfigure the line.  He was very solid at guard last season, so if the center experiment fails, they'll move him back to guard and go with one of the other options.

 

If I had to guess, the Bills see SVP as the future center and are grooming him for the spot, playing McGovern until he's ready.  At that point, they can release McGovern or Edwards to save on cap (next offseason) and keep the other as a starting guard.  This may not have been the original plan, but I don't think the Bills expected that SVP (or a center of his caliber) would be available in the 5th round.  

 

Dawkins last pre-season looked "fat" and slow by the time the regular season hit he was very good. I hope the same for Torrence. A lot of times guys in pre-season are working on things so their performance may decline because they are trying to work out the kinks in their games as opposed to actually leaning into what they do well to produce as best as possible. 

 

Torrence has no reason to be lazy with his rookie contract being fairly small, he's not cashing in and then cashing out so to speak. I think given how respected/good Kromer is as a an offensive line coach they will hopefully have the situation under control but there's only so much you can do in some instances. 

 

As far as the moving McGovern to center I think the plan was to have that be the long term move and they likely were looking to draft a guard in round 5ish and have that guard develop behind Edwards. But then SVPG who was by some considered to be a top 3 center prospect fell into their laps in early round 5 and I think the pivot is to just let McGovern handle the spot until SVPG is in a good place where he can take over and then they can kick out McGovern to guard.

 

I think we will see SVPG at center at some point mid-season. His trajectory is reminding me of Spencer Brown in 2021. Brown was firmly behind D.Williams as a RT and by all accounts Brown was solid in camp but not lighting it up either. Then as the early season wore on the "word on the street" was Brown was killing it in practice. About 6-7 games into the season they plugged in Brown and kicked D.Williams inside and that along with Bates entering the lineup really turned around the offensive line that year despite Brown being a bit up and down. 

[CSBill]

9 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

I think we will see SVPG at center at some point mid-season. His trajectory is reminding me of Spencer Brown in 2021. Brown was firmly behind D.Williams as a RT and by all accounts Brown was solid in camp but not lighting it up either. Then as the early season wore on the "word on the street" was Brown was killing it in practice. About 6-7 games into the season they plugged in Brown and kicked D.Williams inside and that along with Bates entering the lineup really turned around the offensive line that year despite Brown being a bit up and down. 

 

This goes back to the point @biggerdaddynj made earlier: why not resign "Mr. Reliable," Ryan Bates--who could have easily slotted in at Center?

 

Oh well, I am hoping McGovern figures it out, and this becomes a non-issue, and we forget all about Ryan Bates.

[HIT BY SPIKES]

2 hours ago, CSBill said:

 

This goes back to the point @biggerdaddynj made earlier: why not resign "Mr. Reliable," Ryan Bates--who could have easily slotted in at Center?

 

Oh well, I am hoping McGovern figures it out, and this becomes a non-issue, and we forget all about Ryan Bates.

 

I don't agree.

 

Ryan Bates will never be a starting OL on a contending NFL team.

 

Sure he is the perfect #6 swing OL due to his versatility however he is simply not good enough for the Bills who are a contending NFL team.

 

I thought Beane had overpaid Bates on his contract and when there was an opportunity to remedy that Beane did.

 

We should have drafted a Center in last year's draft in the 2nd or 3rd round however we have got lucky with a potential real starting NFL Center falling to the 5th round.

 

I say start him now. 

[MikePJ76]

from my naked untrained eye it has looked like alec anderson has actually had some issues at center and not McGovern.  I am concerned because Dallas tried him at center in his rookie year and second year and they were convinced he is not a center.  

 

The cowboys organization is horrible but the one thing they do have an eye for is offensive lineman.  So the cowboys insisting mcgovern could not play center is a concern for me as the season starts.

 

Hopefully he is ok, the bills have a good offensive line coach so he wouldn't go along with this plan if he didn't believe in it.

[GunnerBill]

27 minutes ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

 

I don't agree.

 

Ryan Bates will never be a starting OL on a contending NFL team.

 

Sure he is the perfect #6 swing OL due to his versatility however he is simply not good enough for the Bills who are a contending NFL team.

 

I thought Beane had overpaid Bates on his contract and when there was an opportunity to remedy that Beane did.

 

We should have drafted a Center in last year's draft in the 2nd or 3rd round however we have got lucky with a potential real starting NFL Center falling to the 5th round.

 

I say start him now. 

 

Agree with the bolded. Don't agree on starting SVP. I think McGovern has been fine. The accusation in here that McDermott had decided his plan pre-draft and so SVP hasn't been given a chance is being made by the same people who decided they wanted SVP as the starter the moment he was drafted. McGovern is the right choice for now. He has been clearly the best of our three IOL through the two games. 

[eball]

17 hours ago, msw2112 said:

Keep in mind that the move of McGovern to center took place before the draft and before they knew they'd be able to pick up SVPG with a 5th round pick.  I assume they decided to stick with the plan and felt that going with an experienced NFL player was the safer bet than going with a rookie at that position.  I agree that long-term, SVPG will be the answer and McGovern will be moved back to guard, or off the roster to save cap space, depending on how well David Edwards plays as a starter and how Torrence's career progresses.

 

“Keep in mind” what — your baseless assumptions?  I don’t know where to start, but how about that it is just as likely that when the Bills acquired McGovern the plan all along was to have him replace Morse?

 

I understand that folks are entitled to their opinions, but when those opinions are presented as known facts it skews the conversation.

 

 

[msw2112]

1 hour ago, eball said:

 

“Keep in mind” what — your baseless assumptions?  I don’t know where to start, but how about that it is just as likely that when the Bills acquired McGovern the plan all along was to have him replace Morse?

 

I understand that folks are entitled to their opinions, but when those opinions are presented as known facts it skews the conversation.

 

 

 

I generally don't like to get into it with folks on the message board, but I'm having a difficult time understanding your post or the source of your verbal hostility.

 

The Bills released Morse on March 6 and publicly stated that the plan was to move McGovern to center.  That was before the draft, which started on April 25.  That's not an opinion or a baseless assumption.  It's a fact.  That's actually what happened.  Since the draft, the Bills have remained with McGovern as the starting center.  That's also a fact.  If the rookie outplays McGovern, maybe that will change, but as of now the Bills plan is to have McGovern start at center.

 

It's also quite possible, as you've stated, that the plan was to move McGovern to center to replace Morse at the time he was acquired before last season.  I don't know if that's true or not.  If I were to assert that, it would merely be an opinion or a baseless assumption, because I don't know what the Bills plans were at that time.

 

As far long term plans, it's possible that the Bills might decide to move SVPG to center, but I don't know what will happen.  I agreed with another poster who thought that is what would happen in the future.  Because nobody knows what will happen, it's a good topic for discussion on a message board, which is why people come here.

Edited August 20 by msw2112

[ColoradoBills]

The whole IOL doesn't look settled to me at all right now.

Don't know if the Bills go with 9 total OL or maybe 10.

 

Not sure where Clapp stands right now.  I think he is the "maybe 10th" guy.

Might be why he's getting reps at G along with VPG.

 

Let's keep everyone healthy until the start of the season and we will find out soon what's happening.

[Logic]

I think all the "McGovern is just a stopgap" and "he's the center by default after cutting Morse" talk is off base.

It seems to me like McGovern established himself as the leader of the offensive line last year, and a major leader of the offense as a whole. I can't remember where, but I recently read/saw that it was pizza nights at McGovern's house that helped turn the season around last year. That the comradery and closeness built amongst the line and amongst the team at his house on those nights helped the guys dig deep and come together and want to fight for each other. In a season where team chemistry and intangible were a bit...funky, I don't think this report should be discounted.

As for purely the on-field aspect: McGovern is/was a natural center. He has stated that he wanted to play center in the NFL, but the Cowboys didn't give him the chance. I'm sure the Bills coaching staff knew that he wanted to play center, too, not to mention having seen him do so in Bills practices and camp last year. 

It is my opinion that the combination of McGovern's leadership and the ability and play they saw from him at center last year helped them decide that now was the time to move on from Morse. I like SVP as much as the next guy. You can look back through the archives and see me touting him on draft night as the future starter for the Bills. I still think he may be that, but I'm looking at it happening maybe a few seasons down the line. For now? Unless McGovern struggles, he's the guy. Not by accident, not as a stopgap, but by conscious choice of the front office and coaching staff.

 

[gjv]

Actually, the interior starting lineman who had a bad night was Torrance.

[billsfan89]

10 hours ago, CSBill said:

 

This goes back to the point @biggerdaddynj made earlier: why not resign "Mr. Reliable," Ryan Bates--who could have easily slotted in at Center?

 

Oh well, I am hoping McGovern figures it out, and this becomes a non-issue, and we forget all about Ryan Bates.

 

Bates was traded for an early 5th round pick and the Bills clearly viewed Bates as more of a high quality backup that wasn't worth the money he was being paid and the Bills were able to get a solid draft asset for him (which they flipped for an even better draft asset in 2025). I am always paranoid about offensive line depth so I wouldn't have traded Bates but knowing they were able to get SVPG where they did it turned out well. 

 

In the end I think they liked what they had better in slotting in a cheaper Edwards and getting a draft pick as opposed to holding onto Bates. Considering they got a good center prospect in at a great value it worked out. 

[BurpleBull]

McGovern hasn't appeared dominant and he hasn't looked back.

 

Serviceable is how I would describe him.

 

Now on the other hand, Sedrick Van-Pran Granger strikes me as this year's Wyatt Teller.

 

He looks really good!

 

I also like Tylan Grable...Spencer Brown better get his ***** together as the season goes along.

[GoBills808]

would not surprise me if the pass pro improves but the run blocking suffers w/out Morse

[GunnerBill]

4 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

would not surprise me if the pass pro improves but the run blocking suffers w/out Morse

 

They will certainly miss Morse's ability to pull and even on some of the trap play stuff they did last year where his quick feet inside are an advantage. McGovern is mobile but he isn't Mitch Morse. But on the flip side in straight ahead run scenarios McGovern should be an upgrade. Morse was a weakness in those situations and actually they had good short yardage success last year running in the B gap between McGovern and Dawkins. 

[GoBills808]

5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

They will certainly miss Morse's ability to pull and even on some of the trap play stuff they did last year where his quick feet inside are an advantage. McGovern is mobile but he isn't Mitch Morse. But on the flip side in straight ahead run scenarios McGovern should be an upgrade. Morse was a weakness in those situations and actually they had good short yardage success last year running in the B gap between McGovern and Dawkins. 

we'll see

 

we got a ton of mileage out of morse's athleticism in pin pull...that motion was one of the centerpieces in our rpo sets. thinking this yr we will see a lot more power/duo w mcgovern, not sure how that translates to the run game overall.

[GunnerBill]

11 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

we'll see

 

we got a ton of mileage out of morse's athleticism in pin pull...that motion was one of the centerpieces in our rpo sets. thinking this yr we will see a lot more power/duo w mcgovern, not sure how that translates to the run game overall.

 

I agree they will miss his athleticsim in those situations. McGovern has a different set of strengths. 

[NoName]

I heard Sal P report that  Anderson has gotten more reps with the 2s and the rookie has gotten more reps with the 3s and that Anderson has looked better thus far as the backup center.

Edited August 24 by NoName