Connor McGovern happy to be moving to center

Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – With Mitch Morse now gone and playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills made an internal switch to replace the veteran at center.

Connor McGovern is making the move from guard to center, which isn’t a big deal for the veteran offensive lineman. McGovern would actually rather play center.

"I would say that center is my natural position, so I’m going back home," said McGovern following practice on Tuesday.

"I missed it a lot. I got drafted as a center originally (in 2019 by the Dallas Cowboys), and then a new coaching staff came in and I got moved to guard. But I always found my way back to center. Every time something happened, I’d play a little bit and then go back to guard. But now that I’m back to center full time, I’m very happy."

You can even go back to the time before McGovern played at Penn State University.

"Believe it or not, I was always undersized growing up," McGovern said. "In high school, I was always the center because I was the smallest one. And then once I hit my growth spurt, I just stayed at center, went to Penn State at center, and it was always something natural."

McGovern has to lead the offensive line playing center, and he knows he’ll have to communicate more.

"It’s on the center to make sure everyone is on the same page," he said. "Last year, I helped Mitch a lot with the calls, but it was his show to run. But now, it’s mine, and I love the extra weight on my shoulders to do that."

Last season, running back James Cook was fourth in the NFL rushing for 1,122 yards. The year before, Cook only ran for 507 yards. McGovern knows why there was such an improvement in the Bills' running game.

"It all started a few weeks into the season. We brought the running backs in with us, and they saw how we hit our aiming points, where we want them to start cutting the ball back. And just them seeing how we think about stuff and we see where they want to cut, why they’re choosing to cut back when they do," McGovern detailed. "I think all of us getting on the same page allowed us to click, and take that next step forward."

McGovern says it was something they started doing every week after they tried it for the first time.

The Bills wrapped up mandatory minicamp on Thursday, and now it's time for players, coaches and staff to take their vacations before training camp starts in five weeks.