The Buffalo Bills have made plenty of moves to improve their locker room throughout the 2026 NFL offseason. For fans, all of them are met with optimism at this point.
In terms of those on the outside looking into Buffalo, that’s not always the case. ESPN did agree with at least one decision made by the Bills.
It seemed certain that center Connor McGovern would test the free agency waters earlier this offseason. He did not after the Bills re-signed him shortly after both the player and team said there had not been conversations between the two sides about a contract.
Out of the blue, it happened.
Regardless of how it went down, it did, and ESPN approved of it as analyst Bill Barnwell named it Buffalo’s best move of the offseason.
ESPN’s breakdown on McGovern and the Bills can be found below:
Best: Re-signing Connor McGovern. A lot of center deals look like bargains in light of what Tyler Linderbaum signed for with the Raiders. Before this offseason, the highest-paid center was Creed Humphrey, who re-upped with the Chiefs for $18 million per season. Linderbaum’s new deal with the Raiders pays him $27 million per season, a 50% increase from the prior peak.
Solid centers will have their contracts rise accordingly in the years to come, and so it was good work by Brandon Beane and the Bills to get McGovern’s deal done before free agency began. On a four-year, $52 million pact, McGovern’s $13 million average salary is less than half of what Linderbaum will make. And though the Bills had to practically guarantee about 43% of McGovern’s third-year compensation to keep their starting center from free agency, that figure doesn’t seem burdensome in light of what Linderbaum is making.
Even if the Bills decide to move on after two years, they’ll pay McGovern only $32.6 million for those prime seasons, or just over $16 million per year. That’s going to be good value for a player who made the Pro Bowl in 2024 and whose mobility helps define one of the league’s more impactful rushing attacks.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: ESPN names the Bills’ best move of the 2026 NFL offseason