We spoke a bit about Northwestern offensive tackle Peter Skoronski‘s size when he declared for the draft back in April, thinking that while some may question his lack of size as a tackle, he would still follow his former college teammate Rashawn Slater in remaining at the tackle position. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, that’s no longer the case.
Breer says that, while he too initially thought a few teams would write Skoronski off as a guard, he’s finding that, now, few teams see him at tackle. At the NFL scouting combine, Skoronski measured at 6-foot-4, 313 pounds with an arm length of 32.25 inches. Comparatively, Slater measured at 6-foot-4, 304 pounds with an arm length of 33 inches in 2021.
Regardless of his position, Skoronski is regarded as one of maybe 12-13 players who “carry a true first-round grade” in the draft, according to Adam Caplan of Pro Football Network. While anything could happen, this means that no one sees a possibility where Skoronski falls to Day 2 of the draft next week.
Here are a few other rumors leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft:
- We’ve heard comments about Alabama quarterback Bryce Young‘s size being a concern as he makes the transition to the NFL. A recent report by Joe Person of The Athletic seems to confirm that his height is not considered the issue, his weight is. Young weighed in at the combine at a surprising 204 pounds, just three pounds shy of Kyler Murray‘s combine weight. If he ends up going No. 1 overall, like many expect, it sounds like the Panthers have a plan in place to put some meat on his bones.
- Many are under the impression that, after just severing their connections to their last first-round running back, Ezekiel Elliott, there is no way that the Cowboys would go right back and take Texas running back Bijan Robinson in the first round this year. Well, according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com, the team remains open to the possibility. Dallas’s executive vice president, Stephen Jones, emphasized that Robinson is almost certainly going on Day 1 of the draft and “you never know” if it’ll be the Cowboys who select him. With Tony Pollard coming off injury, the team may need a strong RB2 to help carry the load.
- The Buccaneers are another team to keep an eye on for Robinson after he visited Tampa Bay recently, something he mentioned during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. With the departure of Leonard Fournette to free agency, the Buccaneers return last year’s third-round pick Rachaad White, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and Patrick Laird from last year’s rushing offense that ranked last in the NFL. They added Chase Edmonds in the offseason, but a top prospect like Robinson could be really valuable to Tampa Bay’s offense.
If the Cowboys draft Bijan he’s RB1 they have never fully trusted Pollard.
But they won’t. Pollard is no doubt RB1. This is just a a media hype article.
Ronald Jones is a capable RB too and will fill the void nicely.
Cowboys have a good OL, makes sense. But teams have to stop treating like drafting the RB fixes the problem. Either your system is conducive to churning out effective rushers like the Broncos used to or you just build the OL to just act as road graders. Cowboys, Eagles, Ravens, 49ers, Falcons all kinda make sense. TB can’t fix themselves drafting him.
There’s a consensus that only 15-20 players have first round grades, thus some people/positions that would otherwise be picked in the second round are likely to get picked late in the first round – like Robinson.
I like to see the Colts take Skoronski at 4. Pair him next to Nelson. Then sign Lamar Jackson to a 100% guaranteed offer sheet and give Balt their ’24 and ’25 1st. Obviously can’t give them this year’s #4 pick.
If you want Lamar Jackson, God Bless Ya!