5 most intriguing NY Jets position battles to watch this summer

3. NY Jets starting center

The Jets drafted Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann in the second round of this year's draft to be their long-term starter of the future, but how soon the future arrives remains unclear.

The Jets hope that Tippmann will win the starting job coming out of training camp, but he's not going to be handed anything. The incumbent Connor McGovern is returning, and he will be given every opportunity to win the job as well.

McGovern was somewhat surprisingly re-signed to an incredibly cheap one-year, $1.9 million contract just days before the 2023 NFL Draft. The assumption had been that McGovern was likely bound for a new team before he agreed to re-sign with the Jets for backup money.

The contract the Jets handed McGovern heavily suggests that they see him as a potential backup, but he's still a quality starting-caliber center. McGovern has actually graded out as a top-10 center by Pro Football Focus in each of the last two seasons.

He's rebounded well following his disappointing first year with the Jets. Still, it's clear that he's not the future. The hope is that Tippmann will take over the starting job before long.

The Jets split first-team reps between McGovern, Tippmann, and veteran backup Wes Schweitzer this spring, and it seems as though that'll be the case in training camp as well.

Schweitzer appears to be a favorite of the coaching staff, but this is really a two-player competition. If Tippmann proves that he's ready for the starting job, the Jets won't hesitate to bench McGovern in favor of the rookie.