Behind the scenes on Titans draft night: How Peter Skoronski landed in Tennessee

May 22, 2024

CHICAGO — In an alcove of a cozy restaurant, Peter Skoronski, known for being impenetrable, is surrounded by hope.

His phone rings, Skoronski answers, and his eyes get wide.

He could have been at Kansas City’s Union Station, hobnobbing with Roger Goodell, Mel Kiper Jr. and Bryce Young. He could have been bowing before 1,500 media members, 300,000 fans and 54 million who watched on ABC, ESPN or NFL Network.

Ever an offensive lineman, Skoronski preferred a dimly lit hideaway with family, friends, coaches and teammates, the people, he says, who helped him get here. So he invited about 75 of them to a private gathering — sorry ABC, ESPN and NFL Network.

Piece Pizza in Wicker Park was where his family celebrated his baptism to Christianity 21 years ago, and the place they celebrate his baptism to the NFL today.

Among the people in that alcove eating New Haven-style pizza are his grandmother Ruth, wife of the late Bob Skoronski, his sister Elizabeth and brother Robbie, a contingent from Connecticut where his family’s roots grew, and many Northwestern teammates and classmates.

With the phone to his ear, Peter bounds up a few stairs to the back of the restaurant as if he is hunting linebacker. Just past a board listing the eight beers brewed on-site, he covers one ear and talks on his phone.

Skoronski removes a cap with a question mark on it. He and his family had the question mark caps made for a Christmas party. He will be wearing another hat soon.

He puts the phone down, turns to the crowd and yells, “Tennessee!”

Cheers, raised fists.

Chants, “Pete! Pete! Pete!”

Peter Skoronski, right, with his father, Bob Skoronski Jr., at their draft party before the Titans erased the question mark on Peter’s hat. (Dan Pompei / The Athletic)

As it should be, mom Anne gets the first hug, then his father, Bob Jr.

Next is his agent, Tommy Condon. Robbie and Elizabeth give him a group hug.

Kurt Anderson, his offensive line coach at Northwestern, gives his special salutation — the “too sweet high five” inspired by professional wrestlers with only the middle fingers and thumbs pinched together.

Then Anderson gives him an embrace that would break a lesser man’s ribs. Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald wraps his arms around Skoronski next. Skoronski makes his way around the room, hug after hug after hug.

His father addresses the group. “He’s earned every single thing he’s gotten,” he says. “He took zero shortcuts. Ever. His teammates know. So do his coaches. No shortcuts. We should all be like that.”

Peter’s grandfather Bob, a stalwart of the Lombardi dynasty as the left tackle for the Packers for 11 years, loved custard. Peter loves custard, so much, in fact, that his brother and sister call him “Custard.” So now, it’s time for some celebratory custard, distributed in small plastic containers.

And Peter is ready — more than ready — for that first beer of the evening — a Miller Lite.

“Very relieved, very happy,” he says in a private moment between sips. “I couldn’t be happier with the destination. I knew when the process started that the Titans were a great option. I’m ready to be a Titan.”

He could have been a Packer like his grandfather — he was always a Packers fan. Or a Bear in his hometown. He could have been an Eagle or a Jet or who knows what.

The hope was only for a place he would belong.

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At Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., Skoronski received his first college scholarship offer as a sophomore. Among his many suitors were Michigan, Notre Dame and Stanford. The reality is he would have been given a football scholarship any place he wanted. Well, almost any place.

Intrigued by Vanderbilt’s academic reputation and the thought of calling Nashville home, he visited the university his junior year. And he might have chosen Vanderbilt, but Vanderbilt did not offer him a scholarship. Perhaps that explains why the Commodores were everyone’s favorite opponent back then.

At Northwestern, he was a day-one starter at left tackle. Over three seasons, his consistency, fastidiousness and brute force made the case that he was the best blocker in the college game. Skoronski was voted Big Ten offensive lineman of the year and a consensus All-American.

To train for the combine after his final college season, he hired offensive line savant Duke Manyweather and trained at Sports Academy at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Early in the year, Skoronski’s arm length — or lack of it — became a talking point. Manyweather recommended Skoronski hang from a pullup bar daily to stretch the muscles and tendons, potentially lengthening his arms by as much as a half-inch. Skoronski tried it, but his arms still measured 32 1/4 at the combine in March. Over the past two decades, that put him in the fourth percentile of NFL tackles.

So began the narrative that Skoronski would have to play guard, which could have diminished his stock for two reasons — it was a new position for him, and guards aren’t valued as much as tackles. Other than hanging from a pullup bar, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

At the combine, Skoronski was interviewed by most of the teams in the league, including 14 formally — the Cardinals, Chargers, Commanders, Giants, Falcons, Jaguars, Jets, Lions, Packers, Raiders, Seahawks, Steelers, Texans and Titans.

None of the interviewers brought up his arm length, but most asked him what position he saw himself playing. His answer to them all was, “I think I can play tackle. But I’m more than happy to move inside or play anywhere.”

Still, Skoronski was irked by the idea that he couldn’t be a tackle because his arms were too short.

“I sort of let them know that I didn’t like being reduced to a measurement like that,” he says. “And most teams were pretty open to understanding. No one really put me in the box of ‘you can’t play tackle.’ So I was encouraged by that.”

A few of the interviews were memorable. He enjoyed time with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and seemed to connect with Titans coach Mike Vrabel. “I liked his energy,” Skoronski says.

The conversation was a little less comfortable with the Falcons — undoubtedly by design. Skoronski had been told that some interviewers are purposely abrasive in an attempt to see how prospects react. He was prepared.

“The head coach was on me the second I got in there,” Skoronski says of Arthur Smith. “I was giving them generic answers to their questions, and he said, ‘You’re really boring me right now. Your answers are so boring.’ The whole meeting, he kept looking at his computer. I was kind of laughing to myself and said, ‘Sorry, I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m answering you honestly.’”

The combine is known for testing participants’ physical skills and mental acumen. It is less known for testing endurance, but that is absolutely a part of the process. Twelve of Skoronski’s formal combine interviews came rapid-fire one morning over four hours.

Peter Skoronski says he was under the weather at the combine and wasn’t happy with some of the numbers from his workout. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

It didn’t help that he had a sore throat and congestion that required a box of tissue nearby. His combine numbers still were impressive — his vertical jump of 34 1/2 inches was the best among offensive linemen, and his 30 bench-press reps of 225 pounds were second most among offensive tackles. Skoronski was disappointed with his 40-yard dash time of 5.12 because he had run faster in training.

For Northwestern’s pro day two weeks later, Skoronski still was not feeling himself. His conditioning was off, and it showed in positional drills. “I felt pretty gassed,” he says. “A few things were sloppy, in my opinion. I wasn’t pleased.”

At the pro day, Skoronski met individually with offensive line coaches of the Bears, Bills, Jets, Raiders, Steelers and Titans. Each of them did a sample installation for him, then asked him to repeat back to them what he had learned.

About nine more offensive line coaches asked him to talk offense with them in video conferences in the following weeks. Among them were coaches from the Bucs, Cardinals, Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers and Ravens.

Between the combine and the draft, Skoronski moved back to his Evanston apartment and trained with Bears great Olin Kreutz, who has worked with numerous prospects and NFL offensive linemen.

Only the Eagles and Jets invited Skoronski for top-30 visits.

In Philadelphia, he spent significant time with general manager Howie Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. The Eagles made it clear they thought he could play tackle in the NFL. He came away impressed with the organization and how they treat people, thinking it would be an excellent place to play.

After talking with Jets general manager Joe Douglas, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and offensive line coach Keith Carter, Skoronski thought the Jets were on the right track. He was intrigued by the opportunities there.

The Bears and Packers also invited him to their facilities on their local prospect days. In about two hours at Halas Hall, Skoronski spent most of his time with offensive line coach Chris Morgan. He talked with general manager Ryan Poles only briefly — perhaps a tipoff about how the team felt about him.

His visit to Lambeau Field also did not encourage him about a future with the team. He underwent medical testing and met with offensive line coach Luke Butkus — that was it.

“If I hadn’t been a Packers fan,” he says, “I probably would have considered it a waste of time.”

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A little over three months ago, Ran Carthon was introduced as the Titans’ general manager. He came from the 49ers, where, as their player personnel director, he helped the team draft offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey in the first round and trade for offensive tackle Trent Williams.

Carthon played running back for the Colts and Lions. He is the son of Maurice Carthon, who played fullback for Bill Parcells and later coached on his staff. As much as anyone, Ran understands the value of a domineering blocker. And he understands the Titans didn’t have enough of them last season when they gave up the fifth most sacks in the league.

In the offseason, two of the pillars of the Titans’ offense, tackle Taylor Lewan and center Ben Jones, became casualties of time and were released. Another starter, guard Nate Davis, went to Chicago as a free agent.

They needed replacements, and they needed upgrades. So when Carthon watched the tape of Skoronski, he was desirous.

“I thought he was a complete offensive lineman,” Carthon says. “You like the efficiency he plays with. He’s one of those guys who just knows how to block his man and does it at a high level. The number one word I think of when I think about the way he plays is efficient.”

Nobody respects commanding blockers more than Vrabel, the former Super Bowl champion linebacker who has presided over four rushing offenses that finished in the top five of the league in five seasons as the head coach in Tennessee.

Vrabel did his own research on Skoronski, including making a call to Fitzgerald. He had a thorough understanding of the player and person before he shook his hand and interviewed him at the combine.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of concern with him,” Vrabel says. “The reason you have to interview some of these players is you have to figure out if they are a fit. It was easy to see he’d be an easy fit. It was an easy conversation.”

The comfort level with Vrabel and the organization was such that the Titans didn’t think it was necessary to bring Skoronski to Nashville for a top-30 visit.

“He was just clean,” Carthon says. “After our meetings with the scouts and meeting with him at the combine, we didn’t have any further questions we wanted to dig on. It was easy for us.”

The evaluation was made easier, Vrabel says, by watching tape of Skoronski back-to-back with tape of other top tackle prospects. Carthon added that they separated the tackles in part by who fit their scheme best.

Analytics for blocking efficiency broken down by run and pass confirmed what the eyes attested, Carthon says, as did blocking win percentages in man and zone concepts.

And so Carthon chuckled at the arm-length discussion.

“He’s played at a high level against some high-round draft picks, NFL players with arm length,” he says. “Although it doesn’t check a box you typically would want, he knows how to play the game within the confines of what he has.”

Ran Carthon, left, made Peter Skoronski his first draft pick as Titans general manager with the endorsement of head coach Mike Vrabel. (George Walker IV / Associated Press)

The Titans are not typecasting Skoronski as a guard. Or tackle. Carthon is impressed that he has the physical capability to play either, as well as the willingness. Vrabel says he will not even rule out center.

“I would not put a restriction on where I felt he could play,” he says. “When he starts working here, we will do drills that are conducive to overall offensive line fundamentals. Then when we put him in team reps in training camp, we’ll figure out where he can help the team.”

Before the draft, the Titans, picking 11th, thought Skoronski was beyond their reach. Carthon suspected the Raiders might take him with the seventh selection. It turned out their reach was long enough.

When the Titans chose him, Carthon’s phone buzzed. And buzzed and buzzed. About nine texts came in from his friends around the NFL.

“Loved him.”

“He was one of our top guys.”

“Had he been there for us, we were taking him.”

And then there was one from John Lynch, his former boss with the 49ers.

“Great pick,” it said.

The next day, Skoronski and his parents were flown to Nashville on a private G2 jet, courtesy of the Titans.

The Titans could have selected quarterback Will Levis with the 11th pick. Instead, they picked Skoronski and chose Levis in the second round. That’s interesting because Levis’ grandfather Dave Kelly was the defensive line coach at Yale when Skoronski’s father was a defensive lineman for the Bulldogs. Bob Skoronski has known Levis’ mother, Beth, since she was a little girl.

Peter is where he should be, in Nashville, after all.

At the indoor practice facility at Saint Thomas Sports Park, the first-round pick smiled easily and held up a jersey with his name and the number 1 on it.

On his right was Carthon. On his left, Vrabel.

He wore a Titans cap, and the team photographer captured the moment, this time for the world to share.

There was Peter Skoronski, once again surrounded by hope.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photo: Michael Hickey / Getty Images)

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