It can be hard to find the perfect snapshot of a draft prospect considering all the content surrounding the draft, so I will be giving a short profile for each of the Tennessee Titans picks from last week’s draft.
Starting with Peter Skoronski who was the Tennessee Titans' first pick and the first pick of the Mike Vrabel/Ran Carthon era.
Skoronski was a highly touted offensive lineman coming out of Northwestern. He was been a standout player since his freshman year when he started every game and was second-team All-Big Ten. Not only was he dominant compared to his fellow offensive linemen in the conference, but he also had the distinction of being the highest-graded true first-year player in the Big Ten across all positions.
2021 was more of the same for Skoronski as he continued to improve and set the standard for his position as he was first-team All-Big Ten by coaches.
But it was in his junior year in 2022 when Skoronski truly started to set himself apart. He was a preseason All-American and lived up to the hype.
Skoronski finished the season with a PFF pass-blocking grade of 93.0, the highest in the country and one of the highest of all time. He only allowed six pressures on 480 pass-blocking snaps. He also had a PFF run-blocking grade of 79.1, ranking fifth among all qualifying Power 5 tackles.
All in all, Skoronski had one of the best, if not the best, seasons among all of his peers. The consensus among NFL scouts was that Skoronski was probably the most technically skilled OL in the draft. Add that to the fact that he was an ironman in the trenches, never missing a start in his collegiate career, and you have yourself a recipe for a cornerstone offensive lineman.
Now, how did he fall to 11 if he was truly the best offensive lineman coming out of the draft as many of his numbers suggest? We can attribute that to the arm-length debate.
There is a general rule that in the NFL an LT should have a 34-inch arm length, Skoronski measured up at 32.5 inches. Will that matter? It's hard to say, but there are position thresholds for a reason. While it may mean that the Tennessee Titans choose to utilize him in the guard role, nothing is set in stone.
Perhaps the Tennessee Titans can consider themselves lucky that Skoronski's measurements led to him falling behind other linemen in the draft because he has the potential to be the best offensive lineman in this class regardless of where he ends up playing.
Expect stiff competition between Skoronski and Andre Dillard, who the Tennessee Titans signed from the Philadelphia Eagles. Throw in 6th-round pick Jaelyn Duncan and you have a fun LT battle going into training camp. That said, expect Skornoski to start somewhere on the left side of the line immediately which should make Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry very happy.