'Be Ready': Broncos Prepping Rookie S JL Skinner for Defensive Role

You're up, kid.

The Denver Broncos lost their Plan A at starting safety with the four-game suspension of Kareem Jackson, upheld Tuesday by the appeals committee.

They might also be without their Plan B, as primary backup S PJ Locke is questionable to go in Week 12 due to an ankle injury.

What does Plan C look like? 

An expected combination of second-year man Delarrin Turner-Yell and sixth-round rookie JL Skinner, who's being prepped for a big-league crash course.

“We felt like the last three weeks, you really started noticing him on scout team with his movement. He has a good handle on what we’re doing. He’ll have to be ready," Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Skinner on Wednesday. "He’s got good length and ball skills. There’s no exact timeframe for rookies. I give them a hard time. In college, sometimes you get a redshirt year and there’s that sense of urgency here where it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ In the last month, we feel like he’s really picked things up and he’s playing with better eyes [and is] quicker.”

The 183rd overall selection of April's draft, Skinner was a weekly scratch before necessity accelerated his NFL debut, which he made in Sunday's win over Minnesota, logging six special-teams snaps.

Skinner (6-4, 209) didn't flash the hard-hitting ability put on tape in the preseason — not to mention at Boise State, where he earned 2022 first-team All-Mountain West honors — but Denver will require those services Sunday versus the Cleveland Browns' third-ranked rushing offense, averaging 142.7 ground yards per game.

For context: the Broncos' defense ranks dead last against the run, surrendering 160.0 YPG. Unless things change, in a tilt rife with playoff implications, they stand to get gashed by Cleveland's two-headed attack of Kareem Hunt and Jerome Ford.

So, enter Skinner. And, too, enter third-round rookie defensive back Riley Moss, whose playing time is similarly set to skyrocket.

“For all these young guys, you play, you gain confidence, then you’re ready to play more," Payton said of Moss. "You see growth, and sometimes, it’s quicker than others. It’s good to have him contributing. He’s extremely athletic and he’s smart.”

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