The Tennessee Titans have one more massive contract move to make before the 2026 season.

Peter Skoronski’s extension should be at the top of GM Mike Borgonzi’s to-do list. With the Jeffery Simmons deal wrapped up on a market-setting contract extension of his own, the Titans’ 25-year-old starting left guard is the next domino to fall. Skoronski is eligible for an extension, and Tennessee has every reason to get this done sooner rather than later. The fifth-year option was exercised on April 30 for a fully guaranteed $19.07 million-to-$19.1 million in 2027, but locking him up long-term now is the most obvious decision Borgonzi should have on his plate this summer.

Why the Titans shouldn’t wait to extend Skoronski

Here’s the thing about waiting on extensions for players you already know you want to keep: it only costs you more money. The NFL salary cap continues to explode, and the new TV rights deal coming before the turn of the decade is going to supercharge the league’s cash flow. Interior offensive line is one of the positions where the market is rising fastest, because defenses continue to load up and shift their personnel along the interior of the defensive line. Offenses are being forced to change the way they pay and structure their interior offensive lines accordingly.

A real estate analogy applies here. You can fool yourself into thinking the market is going to come down, but in popular areas, it is only every going up. For any player that you are already certain you want to keep around, you need to sign them yesterday. And I’d imagine Skoronski’s camp and the Titans are already in negotiations. It made sense to get the Simmons deal handled first since he’s the elder statesman, but now there’s no reason to drag feet.

Don’t be surprised if Skoronski gets a top-of-market deal

Some of his numbers from 2025 paint a clear picture. This is PFF (so take all the grains of salt necessary), but it offers a decent snapshot for offensive linemen because their play is hard to quantify. Skoronski posted a 79.0 overall PFF grade in 2025, which ranked sixth among all qualified guards. His 84.5 pass block grade ranked second. He allowed 20 pressures on 694 pass block snaps with only two sacks surrendered. That’s some really high level play.

He’s also reliably available, starting 48 career games through three seasons at age 25. He played all 17 games the past two seasons, and the only three starts he missed as a rookie came while ramping back up from an early-season appendectomy, a total medical fluke. For all intents and purposes, he has been an ironman. He’s also a model citizen in the locker room and the community. He is exactly the kind of player I envision Borgonzi pointing to and saying: this is how you act, this is how you play. If you do those things, we will reward you handsomely.

What the contract could look like

At the top of the interior offensive line market sits Raiders center Tyler Linderbaum at $27 million APY. At the guard position specifically, the top three by APY are Chiefs guard Trey Smith at $23.5 million (signed in July of last year), Falcons guard Chris Lindstrom at $21.8 million, and Packers guard Zach Tom at $21.3 million. Spotrac’s market projection for Skoronski sits at roughly $19.75 million AAV, but I think that undersells him.

Skoronski’s camp is going to demand more, and they should. I’d bet the middle ground between Smith’s $23.5 million and the rest of the group in the $21 million range is where the Titans are trying to place Skoronski. His camp is probably coming to the table asking for just above Smith’s number to reset the market. If making him the highest-paid guard for a moment in time is what it takes to get this done early, the Titans should do it. The cap space is there. Tennessee is still in a fantastic situation financially, and there is no better person to spend that money on than Skoronski.

This is about more than one contract. Borgonzi is still relatively new in Tennessee, still setting a culture, still making it clear to players on the roster and prospective players on other teams how the Titans operate. Paying big, market-setting money to young and talented players like Skoronski and foundational veterans like Simmons sends a message about what it means to be a Titan. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new deal come down for Skoronski pretty soon. And whenever it does, it will be the right move.