INDIANAPOLIS — Peter Skoronski is productive: in three seasons as Northwestern’s starting left tackle, he allowed just five sacks in 2,364 snaps. He has the pedigree, too: his grandfather Bob was a left tackle and offensive captain on Packers teams that won five NFL championships from 1961-67.
When the Maine South alum walked on campus in Evanston, he looked fully formed.
“He’s such a talented player,” Northwestern running back Evan Hull said. “And he came in like that.”
The only nit to pick about Skoronski is the length of his arms, which will be officially measured at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday. Some think his shorter reach is better suited for guard, and guards typically aren’t drafted in the top 10.
“Some people that really don’t understand the position that well think, ‘Oh, you’re a tackle — there’s longer [defensive] ends out there so you need longer arms,’” Skoronski said Saturday. “As my trainer Duke Manyweather says, ‘No one seems to have an answer for the long-armed guys who can’t block anybody.’”
Otherwise, Skoronski is as clean of a prospect as his former teammate Rashawn Slater, who was drafted 13th by the Chargers two years ago. Skoronski’s floor is the highest of any Round 1 lineman this year. The Bears could use a sure thing — or three — as they rebuild their line for the second offseason in a row.
They’re already scheduled Skoronski as one of their 30 Halas Hall visits with team executives. They interviewed the draft’s other top tackle, Ohio State’s Paris Johnson, at the NFL Scouting Combine this week. He played darts with coaches and joked his first throw landed on the snack table and not the dart board.
If the Bears decide to trade their No. 1 pick to maximize their draft return —the Panthers would have to give up at least first-round picks in the next three years to move up from No. 9, for example — both Skoronski and Johnson make sense.
“As bad as the Bears defense is,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said, “you’ve got to give Justin Fields some help here going forward.”
The Bears rarely have helped their quarterbacks — since 2000, they’ve drafted four offensive linemen in Round 1. When they did, it rarely worked out well. Kyle Long was a find — after playing just one season of major college football, he was drafted 20th and made the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons. Injuries limited him to just 29 starts in his final four seasons with the Bears, though.
The other three, though, show the perils of drafting linemen:
• Marc Colombo (29th pick in 2002) started only seven games as a Bear because of a dislocated kneecap and nerve damage. The Bears cut him one game into his third season. He found health with the Cowboys, though, starting every game for the next three years and 72 in his six years there.
• Chris Williams (14th in 2008) was one of eight tackles taken in Round 1 but started just seven games at left tackle with the Bears — and another 31 elsewhere on the line — before being cut after four-and-half seasons.
• Gabe Carimi (29th in 2011) started 16 games total in his first two seasons, had multiple knee surgeries and skipped parts of the team’s offseason program. The Bears dealt him to the Bucs in 2013, and he was out of football two years later.
The Bears took three linemen in Round 2 this century, too, with a similar hit rate. Cody Whitehair has made one Pro Bowl in seven seasons. The Bears let guard James Daniels walk last offseason after four years. And Teven Jenkins has started just 13 times in two seasons after having back surgery.
None of the above were the prospect Skoronski is, though. If the Bears kept him home, his Packers-loving family would adjust, he joked.
“I think everyone understands the deal here,” he said.
