Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
After the worst performance of his Titans career, the calls for the team to make a switch at left tackle from Andre Dillard have begun in earnest.
And rightly so, Dillard has given a league-high up six sacks through three games, two more than the next closest player and three more than any other tackle in the NFL. He’s on pace to give up more sacks than Dennis Daley.
Sure, Dillard has had some rough matchups over the first three weeks and the Titans haven’t done enough to help him in those matchups, but we should also be expecting better from him.
When asked about potential changes to the offensive line, head coach Mike Vrabel didn’t rule them out.
“We’ll continue to look and see what’s best and where guys go, but as it stands here right now, today, I don’t see something changing until we have some more time to visit on it tomorrow and see who is available, see who is healthy,” Vrabel said, per Jim Wyatt.
The first name that comes out of everyone’s mouth is left guard Peter Skoronski, who was a great left tackle in college.
However, how Tennessee views the Northwestern product is unknown, as they might believe — like many draft analysts when he was coming out — that Skoronski’s shorter arms make him better suited for guard at this level.
Our Shaun Calderon does not agree with that assessment.
Even if he doesn’t have the type of length that you’d undoubtedly prefer, he’s still able to compensate for it with his elite explosiveness, superior technical skills, powerful strength, impeccable hand usage and impressive contact balance.
Hardly anybody is going to beat him with speed, and as of right now, I have much more confidence in Skor’s ability to withstand power rushes than I currently do with Dillard, even with the short arms.
Even if Skoronski moving to left tackle is in the plans, the Titans have to wait for him to recover from an appendectomy that has kept him out the last two games. Vrabel was unsure of his status for Week 4.
Other options include Dillon Radunz, who has played at left guard the past two weeks in Skoronski’s place, and veteran Justin Murray, who was signed from the practice squad on Tuesday.
I guess you could throw Chris Hubbard’s name in there, also, but then the Titans would have a void at right tackle, where the veteran has been surprisingly good this year.
At the end of the day, I don’t think a change at left tackle is impossible, I just don’t think it’ll happen this quickly. Expect Dillard to be out there again in Week 4.
