Northwestern tackle Peter Skoronski is one of the best offensive line prospects in this year’s draft class. Often a top ten pick in mock drafts, Skoronski received many accolades in college, including being named to the AP First-Team All-American this past season and was named the BIG-10’s offensive lineman of the year.
Despite these awards, Skoronski has faced some criticism about his size. Standing at 6’4″ and weighing 315 pounds he is a bit undersized for an NFL tackle and because of this there has been discussion of him playing interior offensive line. Today when meeting with the media at the NFL Combine, Skoronski said that he is willing to move inside, but believes he can play tackle at the NFL level.
“No one has really sat me down, said you can’t play tackle,” Skoronski said. “A few teams have said like, ‘Yeah, we think you can play tackle, but,’ then emphasize versatility and sort of asking my feelings about playing guard or maybe center or playing on the right side, which of course I’m totally okay. But yeah, I’ve got no issues with moving inside or anything. I just want to emphasize that I can play the tackle position at the next level with it.”
The average height of a NFL left tackle is 6’6″ so Skoronski being two inches shorter could lead to him being at a disadvantage on the edge. Arm length will also be a big question with teams generally setting a benchmark of 33 inches. Of course, there are exceptions, and it didn’t stop him from being a great college player. He put up some incredible numbers in his collegiate career, with PFF giving him a grade of 89.5 in his senior season, showing he has not struggled so far playing tackle.
Given Skoronski is one of the top offensive lineman in this year’s daft, an offensive line needy Steelers unsurprisingly showed interest. Today, Skoronski talked about meeting with the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin.
“It was really positive,” Skoronski said of the meeting with Pittsburgh. “Mostly talked to Coach Tomlin. He was really great, asked some great questions. I thought it went really well.”
While the Steelers are picking at 17, a long shot to land Skoronski based on where he is projected to go, if teams start to doubt his ability to play tackle at the pro level he could drop into the Steelers’ lap given the perceived value of an interior offensive lineman compared to a tackle.
It is no surprise Pittsburgh is doing their due diligence on the offensive lineman in this years draft. Most people think Pittsburgh either goes lineman or cornerback run Round One, so them interviewing one of the top offensive lineman in this year’s draft class is unsurprising. The only question now is will Skoronski make it to 17?
