As Tennessee's lone bright spot on a struggling line, Peter Skoronski’s elite pass-blocking win rate and rising league-wide reputation signal something big coming in Nashville.
If you looked at the Tennessee Titans' offensive line as a whole last season, you would see that it wasn't very good.
The team allowed Cam Ward to be sacked the sixth-most times (56) among all quarterbacks in the league. The running game struggled, averaging 93.5 rushing yards per game, the third-fewest in the NFL.
The Titans weren't able to throw the ball with any consistency either. Tennessee threw for 190.6 passing yards per game, which was the fourth-fewest.
Center Lloyd Cushenberry was coming back from an Achilles tear in 2024 and wasn't himself. He played in 15 games, failing to complete a full season for two consecutive years.
Then you had free-agent signing Kevin Zeitler, who ranked 13th among 81 guards with a 74.5 PFF grade.
Cushenberry and Zeitler are no longer with the team, as Ward will have a new center and right guard blocking for him this season.
The one bright spot on the offensive line was Peter Skoronski. It's no wonder that the Titans rewarded him by picking up his fifth-year option earlier this offseason.
Skoronski is just now starting to get the recognition he deserves from around the league. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler asked anonymous NFL executives, coaches and scouts to rank the 10 best interior offensive linemen in the league.
Skoronski came in at No. 9, just one spot ahead of former Titans center Aaron Brewer, who just signed a massive deal with the Miami Dolphins.
Being on a team with a losing record over the three years he's been in the NFL hasn't helped him make a name for himself, but his play stands out. Skoronski just had a 96% pass-block win rate last season.
Skoronski's rise has been great to see, but what does this mean for the future of the Titans?
For me, it signals that he is about to receive a massive payday from either the Titans or another willing NFL team. Tennessee has proven under General Manager Mike Borgonzi that it's not afraid to hand out massive contracts.
We just saw the Titans make Jeffery Simmons the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL, with a three-year, $105.9 million extension.
Could Skoronski be next in line for a huge extension from the Titans? I think it's absolutely possible, given how quickly Borgonzi extended Simmons. Simmons' contract wasn't set to run out until 2028, and now he's with the Titans until 2031.
If the franchise decides to extend Skoronski past his rookie deal, he would be the second first-round pick to get another contract from the team since 2015. Skoronski went 11th overall to the Titans in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Northwestern.
Who was the first player to break that streak? That would be Simmons.
The question is how much Skoronski would be worth for a rookie extension. As it stands, Dallas Cowboys guard Tyler Smith is the highest-paid guard in the NFL per Spotrac.
Smith is on a four-year, $96 million contract and is currently making $24 million per year. For the Titans to make Skoronski the highest-paid guard in the league, he would have to make upwards of $24 million per year.
Does Skoronski deserve that kind of money? Absolutely. Will the Titans be the team that gives him that money? It's too early to tell.
The team has time to make that decision, with Skoronski's contract expiring in 2028. If the Simmons extension taught us anything, it's that the Titans could be taking care of Skoronski in the near future if they are serious about it.
