He played college football for the Fordham Rams and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL draft.

He was also a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers, and Tennessee Titans, and also had a brief stint with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Skelton attended Burges High School in El Paso, where his father served as an assistant coach.

After passing for 2,172 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior in football, he earned first-team All-District I Class-AAAA and All-City honors, and was named the Offensive MVP by the El Paso Times in 2005.

He led the Fordham Rams to a Patriot League championship,[2] earning them a trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs.

However, Skelton put up good numbers for the Fordham Rams with 2,650 yards, and 15 touchdowns with 7 interceptions, finishing the season ranked second in the Patriot League in passing average (236.8 yards/game) and total offense (244.5).

Fordham University school career records: Source:[12] Skelton was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL draft.

[17] Skelton entered in the fourth quarter of a game against the St. Louis Rams to make his NFL debut, and he completed three of his six passes for 45 yards with a passer rating of 75.0.

He was nominated for Rookie of the Week after this game, but Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots wound up winning the award.

He helped end the Cardinals' six-game losing streak in his first game as starter against the St. Louis Rams in week 9, winning 19–13.

Skelton started one more game due to poor play from Lindley only before being benched for the season after a four interception performance in a rematch against the Seahawks on week 14.