Connor McGovern has had a season when he has played for two teams and four head coaches.
“That’s not a normal stat in a season,” the Jets center said. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.”
McGovern was not even sure he was going to play this season, but then the Jets signed him to their practice squad in Week 2.
He spent three weeks with the Jets before the Saints signed him on Oct. 4 after their starting center Erik McCoy was injured.
McGovern ended up playing six games and starting five in New Orleans.
“It’s been a crazy experience,” he said. “I came here when I was considering retiring, and had a good three or four weeks here and then they claimed me. When they claimed me, they said I might be starting that week. I was like, ‘Holy [expletive], that’s crazy.’ I went down there and I didn’t start, but I got in the second half and played after being on a team for 72 hours. That was cool.”
The Saints cut McGovern on Monday with McCoy ready to return and the Jets claimed him.
McGovern had previously been with the team from 2020-23 when he was the team’s starting center. He is now a backup for Joe Tippmann.
McGovern returns to a much different team than the one he left.
Robert Saleh was fired as head coach and replaced with Jeff Ulbrich the week after McGovern went to the Saints. While McGovern was with the Saints, New Orleans fired coach Dennis Allen and replaced him with Darren Rizzi.
That means McGovern has played for both NFL teams that have fired their coaches this season.
McGovern said he picked up the system pretty easily in New Orleans because it was similar to systems he has played in before.
Former Jets offensive line coach John Benton, who coached McGovern in 2021 and 2022, is the Saints offensive line coach, so the line calls were the same.
“I’ve played a lot of football,” McGovern said. “At some point, football is football, and you can only block a run play so many ways.”
The Jets elevated kicker Anders Carlson from the practice squad, and he will be the team’s fourth different kicker in four weeks after the team lost Spencer Shrader to the Chiefs this week.
Starting safety Chuck Clark was activated off injured reserve.
He has missed the past four games with an ankle injury. The Jets released OL Alec Lindstrom to clear the roster spot.
CB D.J. Reed was fined $11,255 for unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting) against the Cardinals.
