Throughout the pre-draft process, many felt that eventual Tennessee Titans first-round pick Peter Skoronski was among the safest prospects in the draft.
Some people exaggerated the issue with his short arms to the point where they were saying the Titans shouldn’t draft him solely because he was likely going to transition into a guard in the pros.
Buy Titans TicketsThe truth of the matter is, whether he was a tackle, guard or center was irrelevant. Anybody who turned on the tape could see the Northwestern product was the definition of a blue-chip prospect.
Skoronski was one of the seven players in the draft class who received a grade of 90 or higher (91.4) in my personal evaluations/rankings.
What made criticism/skepticism even more absurd was the fact that we’re in an era where interior defensive linemen are becoming dominant pass rushers in their own right, and so much so that the best ones in the league are making anywhere from $23 million to $31 million annually.
Obviously, you’d prefer to take a bona fide left tackle with a premium pick, but getting what I genuinely believe is the best guard prospect since Quenton Nelson always made sense for a Titans team that needed an influx of talent upfront more than anything else.
Not to mention, we haven’t gotten to the point where we can write off Skoronski moving to left tackle down the line.
While we haven’t reached the regular season just yet, Skoronski has done nothing but solidify the belief that he was among the safest and most talented prospects in the entire draft.
Titans general manager, Ran Carthon, was recently asked to discuss how his first-ever draft pick has performed thus far and he stated that Skor is “who we thought he was going to be,” even going as far as to say that he’s practically a young veteran already.
#Titans' Carthon: Skoronski "is who we thought he was going to be." … Calls him a young vet who's bought in, has worked his tail off.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) August 31, 2023
I still think he should’ve gotten a real chance at left tackle, but I can’t blame the Titans for wanting to plug him in at the position where he undoubtedly has the highest upside.
There will likely be occasional growing pains considering the rookie lineman is still a first-year player, but barring injury, I think the universal consensus by the end of the year will be that Tennessee has an undeniable stud on the left side of the offensive line for the foreseeable future.
