Cap-strapped Bills may have to greenlight massive payday after dominant 2025 forces difficult offseason choice
The decision might be much easier than previously thought.
The Buffalo Bills aren’t sitting in a good position in terms of available cap space, with plenty of moves left to be made during this busy 2026 offseason. Over The Cap has Buffalo sitting near the bottom of the pack in the entire NFL, with negative $12 million in cap space.
The only teams in a worse position than the Bills are the Jacksonville Jaguars (negative $13 million), Dallas Cowboys (negative $30 million), and the Minnesota Vikings (negative $43 million).
With that being said, Buffalo has a difficult decision ahead of it regarding center Connor McGovern. He’s due for a massive payday, and his play on the field in 2025 may dictate that Buffalo keeps him around for a few more seasons. While his cap number will be high, the team just can’t look away from the production that he had on the field last season.
The numbers speak for themselves regarding Connor McGovern’s performance in 2026
The center pressure rate for the 2025 regular season was released, and it showed that McGovern was phenomenal at stopping it. He ranked No. 8 at his position across the entire NFL, which was the highest ranking for any of the offensive linemen.
For left guard, David Edwards was sitting at No. 13, allowing a pressure rate of 4.55%, and for right guard, O’Cyrus Torrence was near the bottom of the pack at No. 23, allowing a pressure rate of a little over 5%.
As for left tackle and right tackle, Dion Dawkins came in at No. 13, allowing 5.85% pressure rate, and Spencer Brown was the worst of the bunch, landing at No. 29, allowing 7.30% pressure rate.
Put plainly, McGovern was just outperforming his peers at his position and should be one of the players that Buffalo desperately tries to bring back next season. It also opens the door for the conversation regarding O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown. Should the team be looking for eventual replacements for those players as well?
Of course, some of the pressure rate could be on quarterback Josh Allen scrambling out of the pocket way too soon after his receiving corps was unable to get open down the field, but still, some of the numbers are just flat-out alarming.
Connor McGovern is due to make a lot of money in 2026 and beyond
Spotrac has McGovern’s estimated annual salary sitting at about $16 million a season with a three-year deal worth about $48.8 million, which would rank him third in the NFL behind players like Creed Humphrey and Lloyd Cushenberry. It won’t be cheap, but it might be necessary. At least, center is the least expensive position along the offensive line based on the market reality.
If I had to pick whether David Edwards or McGovern would get a new contract, it’d be McGovern, not only because of his performance on the field, but the depth behind Edwards is much greater than the depth behind McGovern. Alec Anderson and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger could fill in nicely.
If Buffalo is serious about protecting its most valuable asset in quarterback Josh Allen, then this decision really isn’t as complicated as the cap sheet makes it seem.
You can restructure deals and push money into future years, all while drafting and developing at guard. What you can’t afford to do is just let stability in the middle of your offensive line walk out the door, especially when that player just proved he is one of the best at his position in football.
McGovern won’t be cheap, but neither is watching your franchise quarterback take interior pressure because you tried to cut corners.
In a tight cap situation, every dollar matters. But if the Bills are going to spend big on one of their own this offseason, it should be the guy who kept the pocket clean when it mattered most.
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This would be Buffalo pushing all the chips to the center of the table.
