Cole Beasley likely departs the Cowboys in the offseason for more money -- and, he hopes, more opportunities -- after seven seasons in Dallas. The Cowboys receiver becomes a free agent in March.
Beasley sounded off on Twitter, saying, among other things, that “the front office pushes who they want to get the ball to.” He later clarified that he meant “EVERY team’s gameplan in pro sports is dictated by the front office.”
Beasley had the most targets among the team’s wideouts with 87, although Amari Cooper didn’t arrive until midseason. Beasley averaged 6.1 targets in the first seven games before Cooper’s arrival and 5.4 in the nine games after.
Beasley led the team’s wideouts with 65 catches and was second to Cooper in yards with 672.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones responded to Beasley’s claims Wednesday in an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
“I would hope that’s just his frustration but certainly not at all the case,” Jones said of the front office dictating who Dak Prescott targets. “We don’t get involved in that. The only thing we ever do is decide if we’re going to pay players a lot of money, or if we’re going to trade for players and give up big picks. We certainly hope that they would be involved if we’re going to do things like that; that there’s a reason that we’re doing it they’re going to be involved.
“But we would never dictate where balls go or things of that nature. In terms of the game plan and getting involved with what our coaching does to get ready to play the ball game. And certainly of all people, Cole is always involved in getting balls and getting catches. He’s been just an integral part of what we’re about. Certainly, he’s made a lot of big catches and key catches in games that we’ve won.”
Beasley, a slot receiver, started four games this season but played 66.2 percent of the snaps.