Cole Beasley
 Beasley in 2016 | |||||||||
| No. 11 Dallas Cowboys | |||||||||
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| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | April 26, 1989 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Houston, Texas | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 180 lb (82 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Little Elm (TX) | ||||||||
| College: | Southern Methodist | ||||||||
| Undrafted: | 2012 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2016 | |||||||||
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Cole Dickson Beasley (born April 26, 1989) is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He was signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played college football at Southern Methodist University.
Early years
Beasley attended Little Elm High School, where he was an option quarterback, leading the Lobos to the Texas UIL-4A playoffs in consecutive years.[1] He was a district co-MVP, posting 1,184 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, 1,570 passing yards, and 12 touchdowns. He was rated as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com.[2]
College career
Beasley accepted a scholarship from Southern Methodist University, where he was converted into a wide receiver, playing in 11 games with 7 starts as a freshman, while finishing third on the team with 42 receptions for 366 yards and 3 touchdowns.[3]
As a sophomore, he started 7 games, making 40 receptions (fourth on the team), 493 yards and 3 touchdowns. SMU would win the 2009 Hawaii Bowl marking the first bowl invite since the so-called death penalty.[4]
As a junior, he posted 87 receptions (second for a single-season in school history), 1,060 yards and 6 touchdowns.
As a senior, he registered 86 receptions for 1,040 yards (second on the team) and 2 touchdowns.
Professional career
2012 season
Beasley went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft because of his size and was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. He left abruptly during training camp, stating he was dealing with "personal stuff", and even considered retiring from professional football. He went on to have a sudden change of heart, returning and making the final 53-man roster.[5] In 10 games of his rookie year, he made 15 receptions for 98 receiving yards.
2013 season
Beasley found ways to be productive while being surrounded by a solid corps of wide receivers, having the highest completion percentage of any receiver in the NFL with more than 10 targets.[6] He was targeted by quarterback Tony Romo on third down, especially in spread formations.[7] Much of this became attributed to Beasley's very good route running.[8] He posted 39 receptions for 368 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. He also returned 10 punts for 68 yards, along with one kickoff for 11 yards.
2014 season
He posted 37 receptions (fourth on the team), 420 yards (fourth on the team) and 4 touchdowns. He averaged nearly 50 yards per game during the final six contests of the season. In the Wild Card playoff win against the Detroit Lions he made 4 catches - three for first downs- for 63 yards and recovered a critical Romo fumble.
2015 season
On March 3, the Cowboys signed Beasley for an additional 4 years, with a total contract value of $13.6 million. With leading receiver Dez Bryant injured for most of the season, he finished with 52 receptions (tied for second on the team) for 537 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns (led the team), while playing with 4 different starting quarterbacks with varying degrees of knowledge of the team's offense.
At the beginning of the year he was used to fill in as a punt returner, due to his ball security ability. He was eventually replaced by rookie Lucky Whitehead after having poor return averages and a critical muffed punt in a loss against the New York Giants.
2016 season
Beasley posted career highs in receptions and yards, catching 75 passes for 833 yards and 5 touchdowns on 98 targets. His 76.5% catch rate ranked second among NFL wide receivers in 2016.[9]
References
- ↑ "A Bond Beyond the Game: Little Elm High School's Mike and Cole Beasley". Yahoo. 15 October 2007. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014.
- ↑ "Cole Beasley". Rivals.yahoo.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "SMUMUSTANGS.COM – Official Athletic Site Official Athletic Site – Football". Smumustangs.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ FanHouse Staff (11 December 2010). "SMU Death Penalty, Pony Express Profiled On ESPN 30 for 30's 'Pony Excess'". AOL. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
They didn't make a bowl game until 2009, when they won the Hawaii Bowl against Nevada, 45–10.
- ↑ "Beasley Competing For Permanent Cowboys Spot « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth". Dfw.cbslocal.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "Focus On: Cole Beasley". Wfaa.com. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "Dallas Cowboys WR Cole Beasley delivering in big situations". Dallas Cowboys Blog. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "Dallas Cowboys WR Cole Beasley shines again – ESPN Dallas". ESPN.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "Cole Beasley Advanced Stats and Metrics Profile: Catch Rate". PlayerProfiler.com.