NASHVILLE – When Peter Skoronski looks back at his rookie season, he realizes the strides he's already made.
"This time last year, I felt like I was all over the place," Skoronski said after Tuesday's OTA. "I didn't even know how to play guard, or get into a guard stance."
Fast-forward to 2024.
Skoronski, the 11th overall pick of the Titans in the 2023 NFL Draft, is now in his second NFL season, and he's much more comfortable at the guard position after playing tackle in college at Northwestern.
Skoronski has a new head coach (Brian Callahan), a new position coach (Bill Callahan), and plenty of new faces around him, from center Lloyd Cushenberry to left tackle JC Latham, the expected starters on each side of him this fall.
But Skoronski feels more comfortable, and ready to be successful at left guard.
"My comfort level is night and day, comparing last year to this year," Skoronski said. "A lot more comfortable in the position. I played (14) games at guard, so definitely night and day. Having a year in the league, for sure, (helps). But also having a year at guard and just having that overall comfort level where I'm not so nervous, I'm not a rookie any more."
He's also ready to show Latham the way.
"Definitely a similar situation coming into it," Skoronski said of Latham, the team's 7th overall pick in this year's draft. "I feel like now I have a little more perspective having gone through a year, so helping him any way I can in terms of whether that be on the field or off the field. He has been great so far. I think he is just ready to get out there and play ball. He is eager to learn, really eager to play. Making mistakes like everyone, but everyone does, and I sure as hell made a ton of mistakes. Just helping him learn and get better."
Listed at 6-foot-4, 313 pounds, Skoronski said he's a little heavier than where he started out the offseason program, but "it wasn't really intentional, it was just working out and trying to eat right."
"You have to be big and strong to play inside," he added, "so I'm not complaining about anything."
Skoronski also said he has been more intentional about pass protection so far this offseason, "whether that be hands or posture."
"I feel like that's something that kind of got away from me toward the end of the year last year," he said. "So, I've definitely been trying to focus in a little more on that. Having Bill here, he's been big on that too. We spend a lot of time doing that too, especially hands."
Looking back at last year, as a group, Skoronski knows the offensive line can be better.
In 2023, Titans quarterbacks were sacked a total of 64 times.
"I think you have to have a little bit of a culture established in your o-line room," he said. "You never want to be that group where people are pointing a finger to. We know we can be better. Bill has done a great job setting that culture here, but someone like me is coming back and knows that feeling of being that group that maybe was a liability, and not wanting that to happen again. I think that is a motivating factor even going through drill work now."
So, what's it going to take?
"It's reps, that's the biggest thing," Skoronski said. "Tons of new guys, tons of new technique. So it's everyone working together and getting used to that, and that can really only happen through reps. We're going to get plenty of them now and in camp, so we'll get that rapport going."
