Cole Beasley on Cowboys Receivers: “We all do something different”
Dallas Cowboys slot receiver Cole Beasley believes his teammates’ differences actually make the receiver corps stronger.
One of the bigger storylines following the Dallas Cowboys into the 2016 regular season will be the team’s group of wide receivers. Last season, the Cowboys wide receiver corp struggled as injuries to starting quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant placed an unflattering spotlight on the other wide outs on the depth chart.
Number two wide receiver Terrance Williams was unable to fill the massive shoes left when Bryant was sidelined due to a foot injury after Week One. Despite an excellent offseason, slot receiver Cole Beasley failed to build the same sort of chemistry with the team’s back-up quarterbacks as he had previously with Romo.
Both players, whom the team looked to when their starters went down, failed to live up to lofty expectations. That same disappointment trickled down to receivers Devin Street and Brice Butler as well. The lone bright spot may have been undrafted rookie wide out Lucky Whitehead, who mainly excelled as a special teams returner.
It was expected the Cowboys would somehow address the lack of a playmaker among this receiver corps sometime this offseason. Instead, Dallas elected to stand pat.
The Cowboys will likely enter the 2016 regular season with the exact same group of wide receivers on their depth chart as they has last season. And according to Beasley, that’s a good thing. Because each of them brings something unique to the table.
"“We all do something different,” Beasley told the Dallas Morning News. “T-Dub’s game is different from what I do, and Dez’s is different from what me and T-Dub do. Dez can do things I can’t do, and I can do things that Dez can’t do, so I feel like we work together very well. We got different guys that do different things and it opens up a lot.”"
The former undrafted rookie free agent out of SMU in 2012 is right. Bryant, Williams and himself are all different types of receivers. Dez is your undeniable playmaker. Williams is a solid number two with a flair for making clutch catches. And Beasley is your prototypical slot receiver. Each of them has their roles and often play them well.
Where the problem lies is the fact that these three receivers are not interchangeable. For a team that values positional flex, the Cowboys have none when it comes to their receiver group. Williams is not a number one receiver. Beasley can play nothing but the slot due to his size. And there are only a handful of people on the plant that can do what Bryant does on a regular basis.
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I would have really liked to have seen the Cowboys bring in some competition for this group during the offseason. A drafted rookie or free agent who could actually compete for the number two role beside Bryant. Some seem to think that player is Butler. It’s surely something to watch for during training camp.
Regardless, the Cowboys seem content blaming last year’s receiver woes on the absence of Romo under center. They’ll enter the new season with the same group, fingers crossed, hoping 2015 was simply a fluke.