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Cole Beasley vs. Randall Cobb: Dallas Cowboys Past and Present Meet

The Dallas Cowboys past meets their present this week when the Buffalo Bills come to town on Turkey Day… better known as Thanksgiving. Cole Beasley, a onetime fan favorite around Cowboys Nation will return to his old stomping grounds this Thursday to square off against his replacement, Randall Cobb. This storyline is a small subplot to a much bigger picture for the Cowboys, but still intriguing nonetheless.

After the completion of the 2018 season there was quite a bit of speculation as to whether or not the Dallas Cowboys wanted to keep Cole Beasley around for this foreseeable future. The Cowboys did end up offering Beasley an extension, but he took it as an insult and decided to take his talents to Buffalo instead. As a result, Dallas turned their attention to Randall Cobb and signed him to take over the slot receiver role vacated by Beasley.

Replacing a fan favorite (Beasley) with Randall Cobb didn’t go over well with a lot of fans, especially considering Cobb’s recent injury history. But, the Cowboys brass thought otherwise and made the move regardless of the displeasure of some fans. Was it the right decision? Who has had the better 2019 season, Beasley or Cobb?

Well, let’s find out…

2019 Production

Cole Beasley
Buffalo Bills WR Cole Beasley (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)
G GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD
Cole Beasley 11 7 49 525 10.7 51 4
Randall Cobb 10 4 39 581 14.9 59 3

If you go by production alone, both Cole Beasley and Randall Cobb have had pretty similar seasons. Beasley has a slight advantage on receptions and one more touchdown than Cobb, but the latter has more receiving yards and is averaging nearly 5 more yards per catch. I don’t know about you, but I would say that’s a tossup.

I guess the best way to see if the Dallas Cowboys got the best part of the slot WR small is to follow the money. After all, money speaks in the NFL.

Contract Outlook

Randall Cobb
Dallas Cowboys WR Randall Cobb

Cole Beasley

The Buffalo Bills signed Beasley to a four-year, $29 million contract in the offseason. He received $14.4 million in injury guarantees and $10.7 million of that was fully guaranteed. He also received a $6 million signing bonus and has a guaranteed roster bonus ($2.5 million) and base salary ($2.2 million) in 2019. His cap number this year is $6.9 million.

Randall Cobb

The Dallas Cowboys assigned Cobb to a one-year, $5 million contract with $4 million fully guaranteed. He has a base salary this year of just $2 million and his cap number is $4,562,500 in 2019.

✭✭✭✭✭

If you were to combine the production and what the Dallas Cowboys are currently paying Randall Cobb compared to what the Buffalo Bills are paying Cole Beasley, the Cowboys definitely made a savvy business move.

Let’s take a look at the checklist…

Replaced Cole Beasley’s production…Check.

Avoided committing a long-term investment in an aging WR…Check.

Saved some much needed moolah…Check, Check, Check!

You can try to analyze the Dallas Cowboys decision to replace Cole Beasley with Randall Cobb till the cows come home, but I think we can all agree they’ve probably made the right decision. That’s not something we been able to say much of here lately, but it’s a little refreshing to know this organization isn’t completely incompetent.

What do you think? Did the Dallas Cowboys make the right move?

Level C2/C3 quadriplegic. College graduate with a bachelors degree in sports and health sciences-concentration sports management. Sports enthusiast. Dallas Cowboys fanatic. Lover of life with a glass half-full point of view.

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