The Boxing of Beasley

[T-RO]

Next...Cole travels from Houston area to SMU in Dallas. There he posts nearly 3,000 yards as a receiver.

Highlight reel:


Cool and all, but time for a reality check...and some tough words for Cole.

OK, kid...you did well. Nice story. You maxed your skills, translated that to a scholarship and had some fun on Saturdays.

But SMU is a nothing schoool, playing nobody opponents and you are little shrimp, lucky to have small time success.

If you think you are going further than this, forget about it. You won’t get an invite to the combine and you sure as hell won’t get drafted. Hopefully that SMU degree will get you a nice job somewhere.

 

[MarcusRock]

I cannot conceive of why this thread exists. I keep coming back because I'm baffled.

The whole thesis of the OP is a hype-wrapped announcement that a thread will be started about Cole Beasley. Since then, additional hype and somehow a Web service became required.

Meanwhile everyone else is simply having a conversation about Cole Beasley.

I'm just trying to imagine a forum in real life, such as a party or a meeting or something, where everyone is having a conversation about, say, amusement parks. But now imagine that conversation began with someone saying "Soon I will start a conversation about amusement parks!" and then whenever they spoke they only said "well just wait until you hear MY opinion!"

So bizarre, am I the only one feeling this? I feel like you are an aspiring sportswriter, maybe?

Step out of your box DasSchnitzel. Threads about threads could make for some good reality TV. Or an Amazon.com series.

 

[T-RO]

Most fans can understand that Cole was a long shot to make it to the NFL but they don’t appreciate how dire his odds really really were. Few know the full story.

Those facts...the impossible profile...is next.

 

[T-RO]

As we know, NFL scouts love numbers and graphs. Some players feature profiles that bulge with possibility...while others lead to quick dismissal.

In 2012 we knew Beas was extremely small by NFL standards. We knew he was coming from a minor-league college program. What might surprise you is that his remarkably quirky scouting profile also featured a lack of elite speed...and a damning lack of quickness.

Based on some key metrics...Cole wasn’t quick at all! Take a look. 88% of candidate receivers were superior at the 20 yard shuttle, while 87% surpassed him in the 3 cone drill.

 

[T-RO]

A few observations on Cole's measurables before I proceed:

-Even when compared to his NFL peers at the receiver position, CB could jump. He is near the top of his class in both Broad and Vertical Jump

-And that bench press! Little 170 pound Beas was way above average pressing iron.

Again however, it's beyond remarkable that a little white guy who measured so poorly in quickness tests ever found his way onto an NFL team.

 

[T-RO]

Cole was one of 22 undrafted free agents the Cowboys signed in 2012. I suspect he wouldn’t have been signed at all except for one little fact. I’ll explain that next.

 

[T-RO]

After the draft in 2012 Dallas signed a bunch of guys we’ve long forgotten

They also contracted
Lance Dunbar
Ron Leary
And Cole Beasley

Aside from his local ties to SMU there was almost no media notice given to Cole. In the spring and early summer of that year jjournalists highlighted others from the crop. Cole...not so much.

And indeed it’s his SMU ties that beg the question. Did Jerry sign Cole merely to secure some buzz with the SMU crowd...sell more pre-season tickets to the folks in Highland Park?

If Cole wasn’t from SMU...do the Cowboys bring him in? Frankly, I suspect they don’t.

 

[T-RO]

Cole entered camp with an official height of 5'7 7/8". A weight of 175 pounds. He didn't have burner speed and indications were that he lacked the burst required to make NFL cuts. No one was expecting a thing.

Tomorrow...it’s on to Cole’s first training camp...and the day he quit on the team...on football.

 

[GORICO]

Beasley will benefit from a new scheme and receivers coach. This season he will have both. I expect him to have a good year.

Cern--i agree...things will look a lot different this year in our passing game and bease especially

 

[cern]

Cern--i agree...things will look a lot different this year in our passing game and bease especially

I think Stephen has layed down the law to jg and lineman. Change the offensive scheme or get lost. I think the message was received.

 

[cern]

He bought a small ranch just to have a place for his family and himself to hunt. My kind of guy.

 

[Bleu Star]

Beasley was my pet cat the year we picked him up undrafted from SMU. Watching his tape, I thought he'd have a place in the NFL and liked his tape better than Danny Coale's who we drafted in the 5th round that year. Coale got hurt in camp and that was all she wrote. I still remember Beasley catching like 12 balls against San Diego in preseason in between blowing chunks on the sidelines. When I heard Romo talk him up in one of the preseason pre-games I knew he made the team. I love an underdog.

I couldn't have said it better if I tried. The talented underdog always wins a special place in my heart.

 

[Bullflop]

They've been open downfield. Just not as much as Dak would like them to be. He wants WIDE open. That doesn't happen in the NFL except in blown coverages.

We're about to find out if he's made any progress since we last saw him vs. less than reliable targets. He'll have competition this year that might force him to improve his passing accordingly. Romo didn't always find it easy to avoid the pitfalls of the pro game. Dak is still in his QB infancy. Let's give him some time and more opportunities to improve before we toss him aside. He was a mere 4th round draft pick that simply might require some patience.

 

[T-RO]

Headed into the 2012 camp the Cowboys receiving core looked set at the top but opportunities were there for a newcomer to seize the 5th or 6th spot.

Dallas had lost the productive Laurent Robinson and his 11 touchdowns from the year before

Here was one media guy’s projection for the final roster:
Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Terrance Williams
Dwayne Harris
Anthony Armstrong

If a 6th receiver made the roster...it was likely a different white kid with a similar name:
Danny Coale, 5th round draft pick

Other candidate receivers in camp were longshots: Andre Holmes, Kevin Ogletree and Cole Beasley

 

[T-RO]

Early in camp when a buzz started to develop around Cole...and microphones were put before him, he said something you may remember.

“Hey Cole, do you fashion yourself another Wes Welker? How do you feel about those comparisons?”

“I get tired of it a little bit because I feel like I have a little bit more speed than Wes Welker does,” Beasley told KRLD-FM. “He’s got a little bigger frame than me, but I feel like I’ve got a little more versatility to my game than he does.”

Some of us felt Cole might have the dreaded short man syndrome...an attitude.

Then again, without confidence...how far does Cole ever climb?

 

[T-RO]

Then there came a day when Cole nearly boxed himself out of football...

 

[T-RO]

On August 3rd, at the end of week 1 of camp...Cole quit on the Cowboys and left Oxnard.

I’ve always wondered if Cole quit because he believed he wasn’t going to get a fair evaluation due to his size.

Here is what Cole says, looking back:

I was just really overwhelmed. I had never dealt with anything like that. There was stuff coming at me from so many directions at one time, and it was just too much to handle. And if it was stressing me out that much, I didn’t feel like that was what I wanted to do with my career. I started getting sick in the mornings; I’d wake up in the mornings and have to throw up. I wasn’t sick or anything. Something was making me that way. I think it was just all the stress built up…but that day I went home and talked to my dad, I feel like that was a real defining moment for me, it made me who I am today, and I don’t know if my career would be the same without that day…He kind of just made it more simple for me, like I was over thinking just everything, and he just simplified everything for me, and it was hard to focus on just football when I was there before I went home.”

 

[T-RO]

15 Days later Beas caught 7 passes for 100+ yards in a preseason game versus Chargers.

 

[T-RO]

Cole had made the team but didn’t create much stir his rookie season:
15 catches, 128 yards.

Then something perhaps even more surprising happened.

 

[Aviano90]

Is this the most action the Leprechaun has seen on this message board?