Bills Need Overlooked Signing to Bail Out Offensive Line After Connor McGovern Injury

It certainly helps when the next man up has 80 career NFL starts under his belt.

The Buffalo Bills' offensive line absorbed a blow during Saturday's Return of the Blue & Red practice, which was open to ticketed spectators at the brand-new Highmark Stadium.

Starting center Connor McGovern, who signed a four-year contract extension this past offseason, left the nighttime practice, and he did not return. The 28-year-old McGovern was one of three Bills' players, by our count, to go off due to injury on August 8.

Replacing McGovern, veteran center Lloyd Cushenberry stepped up to take the first-team reps. The Bills signed Cushenberry, who had made 80 regular season starts since 2020, in March after the Tennessee Titans released the six-year starter with a failed physical designation.

"The center position, outside of the quarterback, is the hardest position on the offensive side of the ball. You gotta do everything," said first-year head coach Joe Brady at his post-practice press conference.

Connor McGovern's injury update

It happened during 11-on-11 team drills.

Chasing the play on an interception return, McGovern appeared to pull up lame near the sideline at the 30. He eventually threw his helmet off and went to the ground where he was examined by medical personnel.

Not long thereafter, McGovern was spotted walking gingerly toward the locker room while favoring his right leg.

Buffalo Bills center Connor McGovern injured on a play wobbles as he stands and is helped off the field during first half action at Empower FIeld at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Jan. 17, 2026. Checking him is teammate running back Ray Davis | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Although Brady offered no update on Saturday night, the speculation is that McGovern has a mild hamstring strain. The average timetable for return is 2-4 weeks.

Despite McGovern needing to become acclimated with a new starting left guard, which remains to be determined, the Bills would be smart to sideline the Pro Bowl center until Week 1 preparations begin.

After an off-day, the Bills returned to practice indoors on Monday, and McGovern was not seen participating during the session, which was open to media.

Lloyd Cushenberry leads Bills' high quality backup plan

The good news is that Buffalo has multiple viable options behind McGovern at center.

"I feel really good [about our center depth]. We've had personnel meetings as a staff and talked about just different roles for different guys. We feel pretty good about with where we're at," said offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael prior to Monday's practice.

When the Bills signed Cushenberry following the initial wave of free agency, we wrote about the perceived importance of general manager Brandon Beane's under-the-radar move, which was met by resounding approval from Brady.

"Lloyd's a starting center in the NFL. You go through the process, going into free agency, there was a chance we lost both Connor and David [Edwards]. It was keeping me up at night with some of those thoughts. Lloyd was a guy, I know he's coming off of an injury, but Lloyd was a possibility of being our starter, or just a guy that we would think about as a starter," said Brady at the NFL spring meetings.

Bills' backup centers — Bills Sedrick Van Pran-Granger pushes Lloyd Cushenberry III away during a drill at Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on Aug. 3 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The 28-year-old Cushenberry, a 2020 third-round pick by the Denver Broncos, suffered a torn Achilles midway through the 2024 season with Tennessee. He managed to bounce back to the tune of 15 starts last year, but a labrum tear reportedly caused the Titans to cut ties.

Meanwhile, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, a 2024 fifth-round draft pick, will also factor into the mix at center. Prior to spending two years in a reserve role with the Bills, he was a three-year starter for the Georgia Bulldogs.

"The fact that we have a guy like Lloyd that has a lot of stripes and has played a lot of football, and we got a guy like Sed that has been just progressing as he's been here. We have a lot of confidence in that," said Brady. "Credit Beane, in these situations that we have guys that aren't just rookies having to go in there and kind of go with it."

While both Alec Anderson and Austin Corbett have experience at the position, it doesn't appear as if the Bills are currently interested in pulling either of them away from the starting left guard competition.

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