Seahawks Draft Profile: How ‘most talented’ OL Skoronski could fit Hawks

The foregone conclusion is the Seattle Seahawks will use their first first-round pick on either a quarterback or defensive lineman. But what about the other side of the trenches?

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That’s where Brock Huard’s Wednesday draft profile player makes his mark, and that’s Northwestern offensive lineman Peter Skoronski, a unanimous All-American in 2022.

“Peter Skoronski is the most talented and most highly thought of offensive lineman in this draft,” Huard said during Wednesday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.

Northwestern has gone just 4-20 the last two years, and Huard said Skoronski was the “only good thing” about that team of late.

“He came in and 2020 as a true freshman right away and started nine games in that COVID year and then he came in back-to-back years and he was first-team All-Big Ten. So he is their only stud, he is their only star,” he said.

So why would Skoronski, a college left tackle, be in play for the Seattle Seahawks in the first round? Well, some think he’s not an offensive tackle at the NFL level and is instead a guard. And while the Seahawks are set at offensive tackle after last year’s draft, all three of Seattle’s assumed starters at left guard (Damien Lewis), center (Evan Brown) and right guard (Phil Haynes) are pending free agents after the 2023 season.

“Powerful. Does not get bull rushed, does not get beaten, does not get knocked off his feet. But with the short arms, everybody’s saying move him in (from tackle to guard), Huard said of Skoronski.

Skoronski is 6 foot 4 and weighs 313 pounds, but his arms are 32 1/4-inch long, shorter than teams want from an offensive tackle. For instance, Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross measured in with 34 1/2-inch arms at last year’s NFL Scouting Combine while right tackle Abraham Lucas’ were 33 7/8.

Skoronski’s lack of length may result in him being a guard, but Huard thinks the tools are there for him to be a pretty darn good one.

“If he had 34 1/4-inch arms, he might be picked in the top five and he may be top three because he’d be a left tackle and everybody would say put him put at left tackle for the next 10 years, absolute pro, absolute stud, absolute rock,” he said.

The Seahawks hold the No. 5 and 20 picks in this year’s first round. Skoronski almost certainly will be gone by pick 20, and Huard doesn’t think Skoronski should be in play at No. 5.

“I can’t tell you I would take him at No. 5. This is a trade down (target),” he said. “If you don’t love (someone at five) and if there aren’t great options and as you’re trying to put this puzzle together and you’re just like ‘I can’t do it with Jalen (Carter),’ and Will Anderson is gone and I’m not taking Anthony Richardson and you want to shore up your offensive line (then Skoronski could be a target).”

Skoronski at left guard next to Cross may not become this generation’s Walter Jones-Steve Hutchinson, but Huard thinks there’s “clay to mold” with those two to become a really great tandem on the left side of the Seahawks’ offensive line for years to come.

“If they’re not A’s, they’re A-minuses and if they’re not 100s, they’re 95s,” Huard said. “And all of a sudden you have those two on the left side and Abe Lucas on your right side and you can do that for the next three, four years? You become a very, very physical team.”

“He is the elite talent, he is the No. 1 lineman on this board. He’s a top 10 guy,” Huard added later. “Probably not at tackle – you’d probably slide him in to guard and he would be somebody that can plug and play right away.”

Listen to the full fourth hour of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player below.

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