Broncos have for fourth-year safety JL Skinner have always been high, and the team has shown patience in the Boise State product since making him a sixth-round pick in 2023 after a pre-draft injury detoured his path to the NFL.
But to this point, defensive opportunities have been scant. And even last year, when he played all 17 regular-season games for the first time and cemented his role as a core-four special-teams contributor — with a career-high 322 snaps in that phase — he saw his defensive snaps rise only slightly over the course of the season, from 19 in 2024 to 34.
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Last year, Skinner was safety No. 5 on the roster behind starters Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones and reserves P.J. Locke and Devon Key. And Key has 324 defensive snaps to his name over the last two years in a fill-in role, 271 more than Skinner.
The notion of Key parlaying his extensive special-teams role — which included first-team All-Pro plaudits in that phase last year — into a larger defensive range of responsibility is there, and he appears to have the No. 3 safety role in his grasp. Last year, that job was Locke’s, and he did so well in showing that he was back from an off-season neck surgery that he parlayed it into a contract to start with the Dallas Cowboys.
So, Key has a big chance — and with Brandon Jones in a contract year, a potential opportunity long-term. Meanwhile, Skinner will find himself grappling with free-agent pickup Tycen Anderson for playing time.
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SKINNER WAS ABLE TO HOLD OFF A BRONCOS VETERAN SIGNEE LAST YEAR
Twelve months ago at this time, Skinner faced competition from free-agent pickup Sam Franklin. But Skinner outplayed him on defense and special teams during preseason and training camp, and Franklin didn’t even make the 53-player roster, heading off to Buffalo.
This year, the Broncos took another swing at a veteran safety with extensive special-teams experience when they signed Anderson. Significantly, Anderson was the first outside free agent added by the Broncos in March, as they focused mostly on retaining their own players, aside from the massive trade for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Broncos special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi noted last month that he’d had his eyes on Anderson since his 2022 draft year.
“I had high grades on him coming out,” Rizzi recalled. “His special teams film stuck out in college, as a core player. And, really, really, his first couple of years he battled the injury bug, but I thought his last two years he played really consistent football. … He’s a very, very mature player. Really good high football I.Q.”
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There was room for five safeties to be active last year for special-teams purposes, so the roster calculus could give Skinner one more year to develop. But with seventh-rounder Miles Scott and undrafted signee Parker Robertson around, Skinner likely has no margin for error. And if Scott or Robertson flash this summer, the Broncos might find themselves in a situation where they wouldn’t want to expose one of them to the waiver wire, which could land Skinner squarely on the bubble if he can’t outplay Anderson as he did Franklin last summer.