Jets' Connor McGovern wants no part of tanking to solidify No. 1 NFL draft pick

Jets fans may want their team to run the table so to speak and finish the season 0-16, but the players still want to win.

So says Jets center Connor McGovern as his 0-13 team prepares to meet the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday.

In a video news conference Friday, McGovern was asked to comment on the fans’ desire to have the team keep losing so the franchise can secure the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

"It might be easy for somebody sitting on the couch, eating pizza, chips and dip to say they should keep losing," McGovern said, "but they’ve never strapped the pads on. That’s an impossible thing for me to do. So I’m gonna do whatever I can to win."

Right now, the Jets are guaranteed to have one of the top three picks. A winless season, however, would assure them the No. 1 pick with which they likely would take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Since 1944, only five NFL teams — the Baltimore Colts, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Detroit and Cleveland — have gone an entire season without a single victory. Only two teams — the 2008 Lions and 2017 Browns — have gone 0-16.

The Jets, however, have a good chance of joining the 0-16 club. Their next two opponents — the Rams and Cleveland — currently are 9-4, and their final opponent, the Patriots, are 6-7.

Sorry Jets fans. McGovern said no one on the team is looking to throw the final three games away. He then referenced a recent viral video from Eagles center Jason Kelce on the topic of teams not winning games.

"In football — this isn’t basketball — one draft pick isn’t going to make us a Super Bowl champion," Kelce said on Wednesday.

McGovern said he agreed with much of what Kelce said.

"I don't feel like anyone here is intentionally trying to lose," McGovern said. "It hurts to lose. I don't put my body through this — I don't think anyone on the Jets puts their bodies through this — to lose. This game is too hard to do for a piece of paper and some money in the bank. You've got to love it to be great at this game and you're not gonna love it if you're trying to lose."

McGovern, who signed a three-year deal with the Jets this offseason, never expected to go through anything like this year.

"You can ask anybody I’ve been around. I’m extremely competitive," he said. "I come from an extremely competitive family. My mom and dad can’t even play card games because they get so competitive. So it’s just not in my nature to lose…If you’re going to be good at football and play at an elite level, you’re never playing to lose."

Notes & quotes: Defensive assistant Blake Williams, the son of recently fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, will not be making the trip with the team to Los Angeles, it was announced in a sentence on the Jets' injury report. The team said the reason is non-injury related ... Defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi, who won't play Sunday after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, did not violate any protocols, according to coach Adam Gase. He said Fatukasi had close contact with someone outside the organization and did "nothing wrong." Fatukasi is the team’s biggest defensive lineman and has averaged 39 snaps since replacing Steve McLendon.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.