It was undoubtedly a tumultuous pre-draft process for the Tennessee Titans’ eventual first-round pick, offensive tackle Peter Skoronski.
Despite being one of the best overall prospects regardless of position, many nitpicked his physical limitations to a nauseating degree, with his arm length being the focus. People genuinely acted as if that’s the only thing that matters when it comes to playing offensive tackle.
Make no mistake, it’s definitely helpful to have longer arms as an offensive tackle, but being technically sound, athletically fluid and mentally sharp — all traits Skoronski possesses — are all much more important.
The Unanimous All-American recently touched on the topic on Barstool Sports’ “The Mid Show”. Here is what Skoronski had to say about the criticism surrounding his arm length.
“I think that’s ( arm length) definitely a good attribute to have, especially in pass protection to keep someone off your body,” he said. “But I don’t think — and I’ve said this pretty much the whole process — I don’t think that’s the only factor or even a huge factor, in my opinion. I think there’s so much that goes into it (blocking).”
Skor then added that he never even realized his “short arms” were much of an issue until recently.
He also explained what type of drastic measures he was taking to try and increase his arm length before the 2023 NFL Combine, a process that included hanging from bars and doing a variety of soft-tissue work.
However, his efforts were futile and Skoronski’s arm measurement didn’t change.
“During combine training, I was hanging from bars and doing soft-tissue work on shoulders and my arms and my lats,” Skoronski said. “That day (the day of the combine), we had our manual therapy people working on me for 30 minutes, and I was stretching and doing everything I can, and then I measured at the combine the exact same as I did before.”
You can find the entire interview below. His comments on his pre-combine efforts are around the 19-minute mark.
