Connor McGovern had a season playing for two teams and four head coaches.
“This is not a normal statistic during a season,” the Jets center said. “It's been a crazy few weeks.”
McGovern wasn't even sure if he would play this season, but the Jets signed him to their practice squad in Week 2.
Due to an injury to starting center Eric McCoy, the Saints spent three weeks with the Jets before signing him on October 4.
McGovern appeared in six games and started five for New Orleans.
“It was a crazy experience,” he said. “I came here when I was thinking of retiring and I spent three or four weeks here and then they claimed me. I said it might start in the week. I was like, “Holy.'' [expletive]that's crazy.'' I went down there, didn't start, but came on in the second half and played after being on the team for 72 hours. That was cool. ”
The Saints cut McGovern on Monday with McCoy ready to return, and the Jets acquired him.
McGovern previously was with the team from 2020-23, serving as the team's starting center. He currently serves as Joe Tippman's backup.
McGovern returns to a much different team than the one he left.
Robert Saleh was fired as head coach and replaced by Jeff Ulbrich the week after McGovern was traded to the Saints. While McGovern was with the Saints, New Orleans fired coach Dennis Allen and replaced him with Darren Rizzi.
That means McGovern played for both NFL teams that fired their coaches this season.
McGovern said the system was easy to pick up in New Orleans because it was similar to the system he had played before.
The line calls were similar, as former Jets offensive line coach John Benton, who coached McGovern in 2021 and 2022, is the Saints' offensive line coach.
“I've played a lot of football,” McGovern said. “At a certain point, football is football and you can only block run plays in different ways.”
The Jets promoted kicker Anders Karlsson from the practice squad, making him 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 placed on injured reserve.
He had missed the past four games with an ankle injury. The Jets released OL Alec Lindstrom to free up a roster spot.
CB DJ Reed was fined $11,255 for unsportsmanlike conduct (provocation) against the Cardinals.
