Bills' Cole Beasley Handling Reduced Role With Professionalism
Cole Beasley has been so good for so long that it's almost incomprehensible for the wide receiver to suddenly be nearly eliminated for non-injury reasons from the game plans of his Buffalo Bills.
Consider that the 32-year-old wide receiver as recently as Sept. 26 caught 11 passes, tying a career high he set twice with the Bills last season, but has been targeted just four times (with three catches) in the two games since.
Beasley played 50% of the offensive snaps against Houston in a 40-0 win but played just 39% in a 38-20 win at Kansas City last Sunday night. Yet only two receivers, Stefon Diggs and Emmanuel Sanders, played more snaps than Beasley in Sunday night's game.
"He's a pro," coach Sean McDermott said before Thursday's practice. "It's hard when you don't get the football. And I get that. There's only one football to go around, and sometimes it's not just one game, it's two games, it's three games and how are you going to react? And that's some of what we look for in the character of our players, because you're going to go through ... some adversity in your career or during a season.
"... In this case, with Cole, hang together, stay with the plan, stay bought in, knowing that your time is going to come. I think is all part of the process of a season and a team being a real team. And to this point, you know, Cole has been very professional in the way that he's handled it, the last couple of games in particular, and I expect the same moving forward."
While McDermott was clear about his appreciation, he and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll haven't been as clear about the reason for the sudden change except to say that it was just related to game plans that can vary drastically from week to week.
Meanwhile, Beasley has gone silent. The Bills haven't made him available for comment for two weeks, and he shut down his Twitter account in the wake of his controversial stance on the COVID-19 vaccines and his refusal to get vaccinated, generating outrage from critics, many of them Bills fans who have sparred with him on social media about the subject.
One thing is certain: Beasley has gotten better with age. Last year, his 82 receptions, 967 yards and 11.8 yards-per-reception average were career highs, earning him recognition as a second-team All-Pro. His second highest yards-per-reception average came the year before.
In the 35 regular-season games the former Dallas Cowboy has played since joining the Bills in 2019, Beasley has 175 catches for 1,960 yards and 10 TDs.
Remember, the Bills last season targeted their wide receivers more than any team except the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sunday, only 13 of Josh Allen's 26 throws were aimed at that position group as the Bills appear to be adjusting back to opponents' new methods of defending them.
What this means for the Tennessee game and beyond is unclear.
"We've got a lot of confidence in Cole across the building here," McDermott said Monday.
But if the Bills continue to win big without Beasley involved, it shouldn't come as a shock if he's dealt by the NFL's trade deadline on Nov. 2.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
