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Josh Allen is happy to have wide receiver Cole Beasley back, though his comments on the 33-year-old’s return to the Buffalo Bills caused a bit of a stir on Wednesday.
Beasley came out of retirement to rejoin his former team, officially signing with the team’s practice squad on December 13. Allen spoke about the importance of Beasley’s return in a session with reporters on Wednesday, including some remarks that were interpreted as critical of the team’s current wide receiving corps.
Allen Speaks on Beasley’s Return
In speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Allen said this year’s offense has been lacking the dimension that Beasley brought over the previous three seasons. The comments raised some eyebrows, with some taking it as a dig at the team’s slot receivers this season.
Beasley was a favorite target for Allen through his three seasons in Buffalo, making 231 receptions for 2,438 yards and with 11 touchdowns.
With Beasley’s departure last offseason, the Bills were left without a clear-cut top slot receiver. Isaiah McKenzie seemed to earn the starting spot out of training camp, but has not stood out this year in making 38 catches for 380 yards. Veteran slot receiver Jamison Crowder was placed on injured reserve after appearing in four games, but had just six catches for 60 yards during that time. Rookie Khalil Shakir, who showed flashes of strong play in training camp, has not emerged as a major threat out of the slot, making just eight catches for 128 yards and one touchdown.
As Ryan O’Halloran and Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News noted, Beasley has the chance to become the piece that the Bills’ offense had been lacking
“The Beasley move is all about giving quarterback Josh Allen an ‘easy button’ in the passing game, a receiving target that allows the offense to move the chains with less stress. McKenzie has not proven to be as consistent a target for Allen out of the slot,” they wrote.
Beasley’s Role This Season
Though the Bills are facing a short week before hosting the Miami Dolphins on Saturday night, ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg reported that he could still find his way to the active roster.
“Before bringing him back to the team, the Bills had extensive conversations throughout the building on his fit, as they would with any player that is brought in,” she wrote. “[General manager Brandon] Beane said it is not unrealistic that he could play Saturday night at home against the Miami Dolphins.”
After a difficult final season with the team, one in which Beasley bristled with fans and faced close to $100,000 in reported fines for breaking the league’s COVID-19 protocol, he appears to be back with a clean slate. Beasley told reporters that he was able to hash out issues with Beane and head coach Sean McDermott upon his return this week.
“The last two years were difficult on everybody,” Beasley told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t really want to go into all of the things we talked about, me and Brandon and Coach McDermott, but there needed to be some conversations there that we needed to have. I’m just happy that we all could that as men and talk about it and resolve issues.”