Peter Skoronski’s next payday may have just gotten a lot more expensive.
The Tennessee Titans guard has been sitting in line for an extension all offseason, and after the Atlanta Falcons locked up Matthew Bergeron on Saturday, the market for interior offensive linemen got another jolt. Bergeron’s new four-year deal is worth $96 million and includes $60 million in guarantees, according to multiple reports.
If those figures hold, Bergeron will average $24 million per year over the life of the extension. That matches Tyler Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and puts Bergeron at the top of the guard market. For Skoronski, that kind of number only adds more weight to his side of the table.
The timing matters because Skoronski has already built a strong case for himself in Tennessee. The 11th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft has developed into a top-10 guard in the league, and the Titans already took care of defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons earlier this offseason. Skoronski is now the next obvious priority.
The guard market was already climbing before Bergeron’s deal. The Las Vegas Raiders pushed things forward by making Tyler Linderbaum the highest-paid center in NFL history, and Bergeron’s extension nudges the ceiling even higher. The way things are moving, $25 million per year for guards no longer feels far off.
There’s also a practical reason the Titans can’t afford to let this drag. After drafting Simmons in 2019, Tennessee missed on three straight first-round picks from 2020 through 2022 - Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley, and Treylon Burks. Skoronski, selected in 2023, ended that stretch.
His production gives Tennessee plenty to work with. Pro Football Focus gave Skoronski an overall grade of 79.0 last season, including an 84.5 mark in pass protection.
Bergeron checked in at 70.8 overall and 65.7 in protection. Those grades don’t settle every argument, but they do give Skoronski’s camp another useful talking point as negotiations continue with Titans GM Mike Borgonzi.
Borgonzi recently said the team has had positive discussions with Skoronski about a deal. He stopped short of calling anything imminent, though he did not rule out an agreement before the regular season starts. Bergeron’s contract may push that conversation forward.
At this point, Tennessee doesn’t gain much by waiting. The longer the Titans sit on Skoronski’s extension, the more the price tag seems likely to rise. Bergeron’s deal just reinforced that reality.
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