Cole Beasley had the best season of his career in 2020 and has been awarded a bunch of honors for his performance. Last year with the Buffalo Bills, he caught 82 passes on 107 targets for 967 yards, all career highs.
His performance was good enough for him to be named a second-team All-Pro and he recently was named number 96 on the NFL Top 100, a list voted on by the players. In a 3 minute video revealing his selection, Beasley received praise from fellow All-Pro teammates Stefon Diggs and Tre’Davious White and stars around the league including Broncos Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons and the Buccaneers Chris Godwin.
The video opened with Tre’Davious revealing that at the end of practice in a 1 on 1 drill he would rather go up against Diggs than Beasley. “Either way you go it’s gonna be a tough guard, if I could say one guy I would honestly say I would rather cover Diggs than to cover Cole.”
White added that “He came from Dallas and he made Josh a lot better and he made our team a lot better.” Cole joined the Bills after Allen’s rookie year, a 6-10 season for the Bills in which Josh threw 10 touchdowns to 12 picks. Since Beasley has signed with the Buffalo Bills have a 23-9 regular-season record and Allen has thrown 57 touchdowns to just 12 picks.
Cole Beasley draws high praise from Buffalo Bills’ teammate Stefon Diggs
Beasley also drew high praise from his running mate in the wide receiver room Stefon Diggs. “In my eyes, Cole Beasley is probably like really like a top receiver in the league. When I first got to Buffalo I got to see him every day and I probably like never seen him get covered.”
Diggs went on to say that the only way Cole wasn’t open was if he slipped and Tre’Davious said that he doesn’t think Beasley has been covered 1 on 1 ever.
Broncos safety Justin Simmons called Beasley “crafty” and compared him to someone that Simmons sees a lot, perennial Pro Bowler Keenan Allen. Simmons likened their timing and their football smarts saying they always know where they need to be.
Chris Godwin recalls watching the Bills-Cardinals game from the past season, a game in which Beasley went off for 11 catches 109 yards, and a touchdown. Godwin specifically remembers Beasleys touchdown in which he “routed up Patrick Peterson” to get wide open for a 22-yard score. “He’s definitely a baller there’s no doubt about it.”
The video ends by talking about how Beasley’s season was almost cut short by injury but he was able to gut it out and show up for the Bills in the playoffs. “That Friday he didn’t look too well like he was damn near hobbling, I was like if he plays it’s going to be something to see because his leg was damn near broken, so I don’t know… different breed.” Stefon Diggs said.
Beasley did play on his partially broken fibula and caught all seven of his targets against the Colts.
While the Top 100 is mostly a dumb list to get fans riled up it is cool to hear star players talk candidly about players they respect around the league as well as providing new insight and soundbites.