Brandon Beane doesn’t want you to look away from your screens this offseason, Bills Mafia.
After consummating a bombshell trade with the Chicago Bears for wide receiver D.J. Moore and a fifth-round pick on Thursday, along with orchestrating a slew of releases on Friday — which included bidding farewell to longtime nickel cornerback Taron Johnson — the Buffalo Bills were at it again on Saturday with yet another flurry of moves as the team restructured the contract of defensive tackle Ed Oliver to create an additional $10.26 million in cap space this offseason, while also bringing back an impending free agent of their own as they inked veteran center Connor McGovern to a four-year, $52 million dollar deal that keeps the former 2019 third-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the mix in Orchard Park, New York, through 2029.
The deal for McGovern, although a bit unexpected, was certainly a welcomed move amongst the media and fanbase this weekend, particularly considering that Buffalo’s man in the pivot was projected to garner a contract on the open market that contained an average annual salary of somewhere north of $15 million.
That didn’t happen, however, as the Bills managed to get McGovern under contract before he ever even sniffed the open market, bagging a deal at an average annual value of $13 million per season — currently making him the third-highest paid center in the league in terms of APY behind only the Philadelphia Eagles’ Cam Jurgens and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey, although he may slide down to fourth in the coming days depending on what former Baltimore Ravens’ center Tyler Linderbaum winds up making.
And while many expected third-year center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to possibly slide into the starting spot in the absence of a McGovern deal this offseason, that won’t be necessary moving forward.
The 28-year-old Larksville, Pennsylvania, native has started 78 of 94 total regular-season games in his career during his time with Dallas and Buffalo, including all 49 games that he has suited up for the Bills since joining the team as a free-agent addition in 2023.
Initially brought in to be the left guard, McGovern wound up sliding over to the center position for the last two seasons after Buffalo parted ways with former center Mitch Morse two offseasons ago, and the transition went swimmingly for the Penn State alum.
Now, the 6-foot-5, 318-pound offensive lineman is set to presumably finish his career in Buffalo hiking the ball to quarterback Josh Allen and continuing to sling pizzas for teammates — not a bad gig.
And although the Bills surrendered the 14th most sacks (40) in the league last season according to StatMuse, McGovern was far from the issue.
Dealing with a hand injury on his snapping side for most of the season — but never missing a game or practice due to it — Buffalo’s man in the middle ceased to flinch, playing 1,037 snaps, allowing just 14 pressures, and zero sacks in 16 games last season according to Pro Football Focus.
With that said, it was clear McGovern and the Bills didn’t want to part ways with each other in what has been a happy marriage between the two during the center’s tenure in Western New York.
Now, all that is left to do is get over the playoff hump that Buffalo’s current core of players have failed to do so far.
Time will tell if that will happen, but keeping McGovern in the fold to see it through isn’t a bad idea, not in the least.
As for Oliver, some fans and media members speculated whether or not the former first-round pick would be a fit in new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s scheme moving forward.
Well, if there were any doubts, the restructuring of Oliver’s contract all but guarantees that the Bills see a future for the University of Houston product along the defensive front moving forward.
The 6-foot-1, 287-pound defensive lineman struggled with multiple injuries last season, appearing in only three regular season games and a portion of one playoff game, but he still managed to rack up 12 tackles, seven tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, three sacks, and one forced fumble in his very limited number of snaps.
For that reason, it’s easy to see why Leonhard might have wanted to keep Oliver around. Here’s to hoping that the team sees the horse-loving, game-wrecker return to form for a full slate of games next season.
The NFL legal tampering window opens up on Monday at Noon ET, so make sure to stay tuned to the Buffalo Fambase blog for all the latest news regarding your beloved Buffalo Bills.
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to John Green for his contributions to our blog. You can also find John on X @JGreen_PRsports.com.
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