Two Titans offensive linemen shown league-wide respect on latest ESPN position ranking, similar to Derrick Henry’s 2000 yard season

The Tennessee Titans offensive line is poised to make a big leap this season, and they’ll be led by the best guard tandem this team has seen in a long time.

LG Peter Skoronski and RG Kevin Zeitler were both recognized as top-20 guards in the NFL by PFF earlier this summer, and now coaches and executives around the league are giving them a nod as well. In Jeremy Fowler’s anonymous polling series at ESPN, both Titans guards were voted just outside the top 10.

Skoronski was an honorable mention, with one anonymous personnel director saying “Thought he had an uneven start to his career, but he's improved and was playing well down the stretch [last season]. Arrow pointing up.” Zeitler was listed as another player receiving votes within the top 10, which is increasing impressive for the aging 35 year old.

When it comes to offensive line play, everybody rightfully thinks about tackles first and foremost. That’s especially the case in Tennessee, where dreadful tackle play has kneecapped this unit for 3+ years. But an elite interior can boost a line in a big way as well, as demonstrated by the last Titans interior unit that had as much talented potential as the 2025 group: the 2020 offensive line.

This was the group that Derrick Henry ran behind to become the first-team All Pro running back that season. Oh, and he ran for 2000 yards. By PFF’s grading, Rodger Saffold was the 22nd ranked guard and Nate Davis was 24th, out of 132 qualifying linemen. That line was an above league average group, ranking somewhere in the 12th-16th range depending on what you look at. And tackle play wasn’t particularly strong for them. Taylor Lewan went down early in the season with his knee injury, and Dennis Kelly and David Quessenberry held down the tackle positions for the majority of the year. Isaiah Wilson was a freshly-minted 1st round pick who was supposed to help, but I don’t need to remind you how he did just about everything but help the team that season.

Skoronski and Zeitler are talented enough to lead the way for this year’s group in a similar way. One glaring difference when comparing these units is their strengths. The 2020 group was unanimously better at run blocking across the line. The 2025 version of the Titans has a much stronger tilt towards pass protection. Good news for Cam Ward, one would hope. I also don’t think Dan Moore and JC Latham will be as tricky to work around as the 2020 tackle situation was either, as long as they both stay healthy of course.

I’m really looking forward to watching this unit in a couple months. Read more about Tennessee’s OL improvements and expectations at the links below: