Scouting Report: Peter Skoronski

The highly polished offensive tackle out of Evanston has been a speculated candidate to kick inside to guard at the next level. Could he do so in Detroit?

Background

A Chicago-land native coming out of Park Ridge, Illinois, Skoronski ranked as a four-star prospect according to 247Sports. He was, however, ranked as a center. He committed to the local program, the Northwestern Wildcats, one of their biggest recruiting wins to date. Skoronski’s grandfather, Bob, was a former five-time NFL Champion for the Green Bay Packers way back when.

Despite the chaos of the 2020 season, especially in the Big Ten, Skoronski thrived, stepping into the Northwestern starting lineup immediately, starting every game for them. He was named a True Freshman All-American by 247Sports, and was even voted All-Big Ten Second-Team thanks to his stellar play.

It was more of the same in 2021, as Skoronski started all twelve games at left tackle once again, and this time was voted First-Team All-Big Ten in the coaches poll.

And then want to guess what happened his junior year? Shocker, Skoronski started every game once again for the Wildcats, and was awarded with a very long list of accolades for his performance:

• AP First Team Preseason All-American

• Named PFF Offensive Player of the Week after allowing no sacks and leading the rushing attack to 224 yards and two TDs against Nebraska (8/27)

• Named to PFF Week 3 Team of the Week for his performance against Southern Illinois (9/17)

• Named to PFF Week 12 Team of the Week for his performance at Purdue (11/19)

• Named to PFF Week 13 Team of the Week for his performance against Illinois (11/26)

• Finished the season with PFF’s highest pass-blocking grade in the country at 93.0, (also one of highest of all time), allowed only six pressures on 480 pass-blocking snaps

• Best PFF single-season pass blocking grade recorded over last two years

• Finished  with a 79.1 PFF run-blocking grade, ranking 5th among all qualifying Power 5 tackles

• Named Rimington-Pace Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year (first ever by an NU lineman)

• First Northwestern OL to earn two All-Big Ten first team awards and third Wildcat to do so under Pat Fitzgerald

• 2022 Unanimous First Team All-American (first ever by an NU player)

• Named to 2022 All-Big Ten First Team by coaches and media

• Finished as a finalist for the 2022 Outland Trophy, recognizing nation’s best college interior lineman on both offense and defense

Short to say, Skoronski, though playing on a very underwhelming NU team that went just 11-22 during his time, was about as dominant a college offensive lineman as they come. And fun fact: Peter Skoronski has started more Big Ten Championship games than projected first-overall pick C.J. Stroud.

Skoronski’s Strengths

Quick note: Pulled the gif clips from this highlight video, as I have said before that some of these highlight films have ideal angles (endzone for OL), whereas I am scouting largely off of TV/broadcast angles, so this can highlight the technique better.

Is about as technically polished as you will find. His pass-off ability in protection is elite. Seamlessly transitions his blocks and movement. Skoronski is almost always in the right spot, and plays the game like a ten-year veteran.

Very good athlete who is able to flash both power and athleticism consistently. Possesses excellent balance and footwork. The “technique” stuff tends to largely mean hand placement, but even Skoronski’s ability to consistently play controlled and well-centered is outstanding.

Hand placement is good, he consistently hits his marks and does well to overcome his shorter arms at tackle. Timing and control with his hands is a big plus when projecting someone’s NFL success.

Also showed on some screens that he can operate well in a lot of space. Doesn’t deliver a ton of knockout blows on cornerbacks, but does consistently get out with the right timing and depth and then make quality contract to make the block happen.

Love the speed and verticality of his sets in pass protection. There’s a lot of concern over his ability to stick at tackle at the NFL level, but is largely due to his arm length, as his pass sets are very clean and controlled. Between that and the ability to fire hands independently, he sure does give his best to make you think he can stick outside in the NFL.

Where Skoronski Could Improve

One of the bigger weaknesses to Skoronski’s game is a lack of length. This allows defenders to set the tone if they can get into his chest early. The rep above is a clean example of that. Skoronski is initially stonewalled due to the length and punch of Chop Robinson (remember that name for next year). While Skoronski is able to regroup and fight to regain the advantage, it will be tougher to do that regularly enough in the NFL.

I think he could stand to benefit from gaining more power in his lower half. That will certainly help him anchor. He’s not top heavy, nor overly weak in the bottom half, just needs to be stronger to adjust to the NFL.

Lastly, and this is probably more nit-picking, but I think he’s inconsistent climbing to the second-level. He’ll miss his aiming point on some guys randomly.

Skoronski’s NFL Fit and Comparison

Much has been made about Skoronski’s NFL fit by Draft analysts. The summary of it is that Skoronski lacks the requisite length to stick at tackle in the NFL. The arm length is usually the key indicator there, and Skoronski’s measure in at 32.25 inches. For contrast, many were doubting that Bengals OT Jonah Williams had the length to play tackle when he measured in at 33.625 inches, a whole inch and some longer. Now, Skoronski is a superior athlete to Williams, both in testing and on film, but it is certainly a key deficiency to Skoronski’s projection.

Personally, I like Skoronski at guard most. The comparison I would make is the one above, Iowa OT Brandon Scherff. Scherff himself was drafted fifth-overall in 2015 by the then Washington Redskins, and he too dealt with the tackle-vs.-guard debates and projections. Scherff ultimately got an early crack at right tackle, but the Redskins left that spot to Morgan Moses and moved Scherff to right guard during training camp. It worked out wonderfully for him, as he went on to become a five-time Pro Bowl selection, and voted First-team All-Pro in 2020.

Skoronski seems like a similar case where realistically, a team could play him at tackle if they need. For example, I do think the Bears could be well served by playing Skoronski at right tackle. He does have the needed athleticism to do so, but it simply becomes a matter of ceiling. Skoronski projects as a future Pro Bowl talent, like Scherff, if you kick him inside. Keeping him outside may give you a serviceable enough talent at a more important position, but drastically reduces the player’s effectiveness. And personally, I am more a fan of having elite guards than average tackles, so I think guard is going to be Skoronski’s best bet.

Fit with the Detroit Lions

This one would be pretty clear: The Lions have their tackle duo under lock for a few more seasons in Decker and Sewell, and thus would slot Skoronski in at guard long-term. As some have noticed, the Lions did re-do the contract of Halapoulivaati Vaitai, but that deal now expires after this season. And with Graham Glasgow signing just a one-year deal himself, and Jonah Jackson likely needing an extension here soon, the long-term outlook of the Lions guard position is somewhat in question.

As far as a scheme fit goes, there’s some good and bad with Skoronski. The Lions run more gap-scheme oriented than zone (though do not be mistaken, every NFL team runs a mixture of both, usually just more 60-40 towards one or the other), and thus Skoronski’s excellent ability to work both sides of the double team will be helpful. He’s also a very clean add for the Lions combo slide-man protection, with high football IQ and awareness to pick up stunts.

The issues though are that Skoronski will need to get strong to reach that ceiling of being an All-Pro offensive guard. As mentioned in the weakness section, Skoronski’s anchor is inconsistent, and that comes as a result of needing to add power in his legs and get stronger there. That type of issue can stick out a bit more in a power-centric rushing attack. Overall, I think Skoronski is largely a good fit, so don’t hear me wrong. But there are some areas he’ll need to improve.

Where Would Detroit Draft Him?

This is an important question to the mix. The answer is very simple in my opinion: Detroit would almost surely need to draft him sixth overall to add him. I would be utterly shocked if he were on the board by eighteen. Why? The massive list of teams with a clear need for offensive line help between 6 and 18. While some of it varies between tackle and guard, and not everyone will see Skoronski as a tackle, but starting immediately after Detroit, almost every team could conceivably use Skoronski. The Raiders (7th), the Falcons (8th), the Bears (9th), the Eagles (10th), the Titans (11th), the Jets (13th), the Patriots (14th), the Commanders (16th), and the Steelers (17th) all could use OL help.

Simply put: it would take an incredible amount of OL-needy teams to pass on him for him to be available with the 18th overall selection. Hard to believe he slides, even if he is a guard.

So the next question is, is a guard at six overall okay? Positional value says no, but as I have mentioned, I find positional value to be terribly overinflated and misinterpreted. It should be used as a tiebreaker, not an effective measuring stick. Getting good players is what counts. The easy argument here is the 2019 Draft where the Raiders reached on EDGE Clelin Ferrell. EDGE is a premium position, but the Raiders saw almost no value from Ferrell because he himself was bad. Meanwhile, the Lions got excellent value with Frank Ragnow as a first-rounder, and heck, even got a few solid years from T.J. Hockenson as a tight end in the top-ten.

Thus, the question just really boils down to how good you think Skoronski is. If you think he is a bonafide multiyear start at guard and likely a multiple time All-Pro, then the sixth overall pick is certainly on the table for him. Personally, I am not sure he is as much of a lock as some project him to be inside. Again, I do think he’ll need to get stronger to thrive at guard, but he will certainly bring a high ceiling to the table. Skoronski is far more polished than a vast majority of linemen coming out of the college ranks these days.

He’s a great player, and while I do not think he will be the Lions pick at sixth overall after they went out and added Graham Glasgow, he certainly has some merit. For what it is worth, I think Skoronski likely would start over either Glasgow or Vaitai (depending on which version of each we see), but that Detroit also would not have to rush him onto the field if they did not want to. Very good player overall.