NASHVILLE — A Tennessee Titans offensive lineman is trending toward elite territory, and that is a trend the franchise has been waiting for.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler released his annual positional top-10 rankings, polling anonymous NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, and Titans guard Peter Skoronski landed at No. 9 among the league’s best guards and centers.

Playing on a bad offense over three seasons hasn’t stopped Skoronski’s ascension. He improved in each of his first three years, finishing fourth among guards in pass block win rate at 96% in 2025. An NFC executive told Fowler that Skoronski “absolutely jumped to elite status” and predicted “he’s going to get paid a lot more money than people think.”

That executive might be right about the money. Whether the “elite” label fits is another conversation.

Skoronski’s extension should be Tennessee’s top priority

Tyler Smith leads all NFL guards at $24 million per year and Trey Smith’s $23.5 million APY is second. Chris Lindstrom, Robert Hunt, and Quenton Nelson each make around $20 million annually. Once you move past the top five, Landon Dickerson, Aaron Banks, Sam Cosmi, and Quinn Meinerz all fall in the $18 million to $20 million range.

I think Skoronski is better than some players currently making $20 million a year. That number may come as sticker shock for Titans fans, but general manager Mike Borgonzi and the front office always earmarked that cap space for moments like this. When people see a team with the most salary cap room in the NFL, they assume the organization will go wild in free agency. Tennessee did add a significant number of players in free agency this past offseason, flipping roughly half the roster. But the bloated cap number was always meant for homegrown talent like Jeff Simmons and Skoronski.

That’s the core tenet of Borgonzi’s football operation: draft, develop, retain. An investment in Skoronski is an investment in quarterback Cam Ward. Better to get the deal done ahead of the market than let the market dictate terms. Teams that try to wait it out often end up paying significantly more than they originally planned.

I think $20 million in average annual value is appropriate. There are ways to structure a contract that makes the number palatable, and Skoronski needs to remain a Titan for the long term.

Skoronski is the best Titans offensive lineman since Taylor Lewan

Skoronski is the best offensive lineman Tennessee has rostered since Taylor Lewan at his peak, and that dates to 2019. You could argue Ben Jones in 2020 or 2021, but Jones’ final year with the team was the 2022 season. By 2023, Aaron Brewer was starting at center in front of Derrick Henry.

I might argue Lewan had a higher ceiling. I might argue Jones was more important to his offensive line group than Skoronski is to his. But Skoronski has earned the right to play on a quality offensive line while he’s in Tennessee, and adding Dan Moore, while not a splashy move, represented an upgrade at a position of need.

The “elite” label gets thrown around far too often

I think the NFC executive’s use of the word “elite” deserves pushback. Elite, to me, should describe no more than two or three players at any given position. If I said the two elite guards in the NFL right now are Nelson and Tyler Smith, and that’s the list, I think Meinerz, Joe Thuney, Lindstrom, Trey Smith, and Skoronski all fall into that second tier of very good to potentially great.

The word “elite” gets tossed around the same way “literally” does. It has lost its meaning through overuse. If Skoronski were truly elite, even on a bad offensive line, even on a bad offense, you would be able to better discern that quality of play from the tape alone.

Skoronski belongs in the conversation with the league’s best guards. He’s trending in the right direction, improving every season, and he’s going to command significant money on his next contract. At 25 years old and still ascending, he’s exactly the kind of player the Titans need to build around — and that’s more than enough without the elite tag.