Former Bills WR Cole Beasley signed to Buccaneers’ practice squad

Former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley will be headed south after Good Morning Football announced that he will be signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Beasley, who was released by the Bills this offseason, will initially join the Bucs’ practice squad; however, with the team being two receivers short of their full squad, it’s believed that Beasley will quickly be elevated to the 53-man roster.

Beasley, who is 33-years old this season, joined the Bills as a free agent in 2019 after spending the first seven years of his career with the Dallas Cowboys. During the 2021 season, the slot receiver caught 82 passes for 693 yards and one touchdown. Beasley was ranked second in the NFL for catches out of the slot in both 2020 (78 catchers) and 2021 (69 catches).

After the 2021 season, Beasley requested a trade, but Buffalo wasn’t able to make that happen and ultimately released the veteran receiver in March. With the Bills close to the salary cap and having signed Von Miller, it’s thought that their trade prospects were limited and the move to release Beasley saved the team $6.1 million against the cap.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane had stated that he hoped they could bring him back, but Beasley was vocal on social media during the offseason about his desire to leave Buffalo, using his now-deleted Twitter account to say that “things had changed” over the past year and he would not “regret leaving.”

On the other hand, Tom Brady is reported to have had his eye on the slot receiver “for some time” and was a part of the decision-making process to bring in Beasley as he made a push for Tampa Bay to acquire another veteran receiver.

The Buccaneers are in need of a receiver who can quickly stop and change direction on the field. That’s because Tampa Bay is without Julio Jones who’s out with a knee injury and now Mike Evans who has a one-game suspension for his part in the on-field brawl with the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.