In a recent mock draft by Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus, he had the Raiders addressing their offensive line need in Round 1 with left tackle Peter Skoronski from Northwestern. Here is a snippet of his thoughts on the potential fit:
“Now with all the pressure on both head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, I can’t imagine they have the ability to draft QB3 or QB4 in this class and just be mediocre at best while starting a rookie next season.
Instead, I think they’ll be very aggressive in the veteran quarterback market and will prioritize the offensive line in the top 10 of the draft. Despite not having ideal measurables with arm length (actually started his college career as a center), Skoronski earned an elite 92.4 pass-blocking grade in 2022 as the Wildcats’ left tackle.”
If the Raiders drafted Skoronski, it would be a bit of an odd fit because he doesn’t have the length to play left tackle and they already have a Pro Bowl left tackle in Kolton Miller. So that means Skoronski would need to change positions and likely would have to play guard in the NFL.
Skoronski is a good player, but drafting a guard inside the top-10 picks probably isn’t a smart move for the Raiders. If they want to beef up their offensive line, they might be better off moving back and adding more picks before picking a guard this early in the draft.