Bear Digest

Closer Look at Bears Center Options Shows Connor McGovern's Pluses

The penalty free pass blocking of Connor McGovern and Buffalo's running game success could indicate a better Bears option at center with the Bills' free agent.
Gene Chamberlain|
Buffalo's Connor McGovern provides protection for Bills quarterback Josh Allen against the Jets.
Buffalo's Connor McGovern provides protection for Bills quarterback Josh Allen against the Jets. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

While Washington center Tyler Biadasz looks like a less expensive but effective Bears center option, based on his time with Dallas and Washington, immediate Bears interest in him could have said something else.

It could have had a dual purpose.

Besides taking advantage of an early release of Biadasz to get a head start on free agency, the Bears probably needed to be medically sure about Biadasz because of a Christmas knee injury he suffered against Dallas. He finished the year on injured reserve, and that can't be a positive. At the very least, it's troublesome.

Reports top center free agent Tyler Linderbaum wants more than $20 million a year definitely would send him elsewhere in the league if the Bears are also serious about signing some of their own free agents on defense and adding free agent help on that side of the ball.

Connor McGovern's strengths

This could leave the Bears with one other top option and that would be Buffalo free agent Connor McGovern, whose only serious injury was when he sat out his entire 2019 rookie year with a pectoral injury suffered in preseason.

McGovern does represent a better option in several ways than Linderbaum.

McGovern is a better pass blocker. He allowed no sacks in the last two seasons and has been a higher-graded pass blocker the past four seasons than Lindberbaum, who graded in the to 15 per Pro Football Focus pass blocking grades during that time only once.

McGovern was top 11 as a pass blocker each of the last three years. 

Also, McGovern committed far fewer penalties. He had only 13 penalties and seven holding flags in four years while Linderbaum had 24 penalties and 12 holds.

McGovern's poor run-blocking grades prior to 2024 could be easily explained. He was playing guard and not center. McGovern was a left guard in 2023, his second year as a starter and first year in Buffalo. He played almost exclusively at guard in Dallas, 1,10 of his 1,223 of his 1,323 Dallas plays came at guard, only at center.

So McGovern is relatively new to being a starting NFL center, but his run-blocking couldn't be too bad when he's blocking for the top rusher in the NFL, James Cook.

Cook not only led the NFL in rushing with 1,621 yards but has gained over 1,000 yards rushing in each of McGovern's three Buffalo seasons and did this as a 190-pound running back. Cook had only 40 carries outside and 269 between the tackles, per Sports Info Solutions. A lighter running back running inside can't be doing it behind a poor run-blocking center.

Buffalo's rushing yardage is skewed by Josh Allen's big rushing total. He gained 579 yards rushing and scrambled at a higher percentage than all but four other starting QBs.

Still, consensus No. 1 center option Linderbaum was in a similar situation with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson or Tyler Huntley rushing for big yardage in backfields benefiting on the ground from the threat of dual ball carriers.

The size fit

McGovern does have one other possible edge over Linderbaum. He's a much bigger player. That couldn't hurt a Bears offensive line that struggled in short yardage situations. Linderbaum is only 6-2, 305 while McGovern is a guard size at 6-5, 318.

This can also work against McGovern in an offensive like the Bears run. Lighter, more mobile centers can get out in wide zone blocking schemes better. Dalman is only 6-3, 301, which isn't a lot different than Linderbaum's size. If you're looking for context with Johnson's offense in Detroit, you'll get none. Frank Ragnow was All-Pro, was bigger than Dalman and Linderbaum but not as big as McGovern at 6-5, 310.

The Bears likely will be paying much more with these two options than they would if Biadasz is healthy and their choice. PFF projects Linderbaum $20 million a year and Spotrac.com at $17.7 million a year. PFF sees McGovern much cheaper at $13 million a year, just below what Dalman was to get, and Spotrac says $16.3 millon a year.

The bottom line to McGovern is he offers an alternative, possibly somewhat cheaper and more effective in several ways than Linderbaum, even if he looks like less of a system fit than a player closer in size and speed to Dalman like Linderbaum.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.