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What Cowboys' Cole Beasley learned during summer workouts with Randy Moss
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. -- On the face of it, Randy Moss and Cole Beasley don’t have much in common on the football field.
Moss is 6-foot-4 and one of the greatest receivers in NFL history and will one day be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Beasley is 5-foot-8 and a former undrafted receiver who has become one of the better slot receivers in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys.
But for three days in June, Beasley found himself being mentored by Moss at STAX, a Charlotte, North Carolina, facility that houses Moss’s football academy.
The partnership was formed because Beasley and Moss share the same financial advisor, Walt Kennedy. Moss, now an ESPN analyst, asked Kennedy if he had any receivers he could work with. Not long thereafter, Beasley was on a plane.
“Randy Moss is my favorite player coming up,” Beasley said, “so it was kind of crazy that I had that opportunity.”
Beasley worked out with Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown and wide receiver Terrelle Pryor and Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Kawann Short, as well as a couple of college players.
“Cole was a shifty guy, a little speedster guy, very quick, reminded me of a lot things Wes Welker did in the slot,” Moss said before the Cowboys played the Los Angeles Rams in their preseason opener. “Him coming down was a chance for me to get to know him and him to get to know me. One thing I’ve heard from him is I do a lot of yelling, but the reason I do a lot of yelling is because if you can tune out my yelling and still go out and make plays and stay on your feet and continue the drill, then you can tune out anything. I do a lot of yelling when the ball is in the air because that’s when the fans get loudest.”
To Beasley, it reminded him of the way Dez Bryant is at practice, pushing the receivers to get better.
“There’s all kinds of stuff he does, man. He probably talks the whole time. Even midroute,” Beasley said. “So that’s how it is in a game. There’s a lot of stuff that could distract you and you’ve got to stay locked in.”
The days started with work in the weight room and even that was different than what Beasley was expecting.
“It’s mostly about muscle endurance,” Beasley said. “It’s not as heavy as far as the weight goes, probably middle-weight kind, but fast pace and a lot of reps, and it’s almost like conditioning in the weight room. Usually most of the time I’ll do low reps and heavy weight trying to get more explosive.”
On the field, they worked on fast footwork and ran routes. That, too, was different because, “I mean I run routes differently than like damn near everybody,” Beasley said, “so it’s hard to kind of do that stuff.”
But Beasley went to Moss to learn more about playing as an outside receiver. Moss had Beasley running comebacks and post routes and learning how to use his quickness as an advantage on the outside to create lanes for the quarterback to throw the ball down the field. A receiver like Moss can rely on his size to create mismatches.
“My game is built on speed, OK,” Moss said. “Cole Beasley’s game is built on being quick and very precise, because if he’s not quick and he’s not precise, he will get his block knocked off in that middle. So there’s a lot of things that I did learn from guys like Wes and Cris Carter, but then flipping to the outside -- looking at Dez Bryant and his game, look at Calvin Johnson and his game. I look at Antonio Brown, and he does it on the outside and in the slot. That’s one thing I like for guys that come to me because just because you’ve perfected the slot, now go out and be a complete player and play outside. If you’re an outside receiver that doesn’t go in the slot, now go in there and be a whole, rounded player.”
In training camp, Beasley has lined up all over the field, including outside.
“I wanted to work on catching more deep balls and stuff like that because I don’t get very many of them,” Beasley said. “I think I’ve improved that part of my game there a lot, but I could learn more. It was just kind of trying to add stuff that he was good at and try to add it to mine.”
Beasley and Moss exchanged cell phone numbers and will keep in contact during the season. Beasley wants to pick Moss’s brain more on how he studied film and the edges he looked for there.
“He’s a real down-to-earth guy,” Beasley said. “...A Hall of Fame guy you might think is way up here. He’s not like that man. He’s humble, and I actually told him I’d be calling him.”
And Moss has a wish for Beasley.
“Hopefully he’ll come back next year,” Moss said, “so we can pick up where we left off.”
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. -- On the face of it, Randy Moss and Cole Beasley don’t have much in common on the football field.
Moss is 6-foot-4 and one of the greatest receivers in NFL history and will one day be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Beasley is 5-foot-8 and a former undrafted receiver who has become one of the better slot receivers in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys.
But for three days in June, Beasley found himself being mentored by Moss at STAX, a Charlotte, North Carolina, facility that houses Moss’s football academy.
The partnership was formed because Beasley and Moss share the same financial advisor, Walt Kennedy. Moss, now an ESPN analyst, asked Kennedy if he had any receivers he could work with. Not long thereafter, Beasley was on a plane.
“Randy Moss is my favorite player coming up,” Beasley said, “so it was kind of crazy that I had that opportunity.”
Beasley worked out with Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown and wide receiver Terrelle Pryor and Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Kawann Short, as well as a couple of college players.
“Cole was a shifty guy, a little speedster guy, very quick, reminded me of a lot things Wes Welker did in the slot,” Moss said before the Cowboys played the Los Angeles Rams in their preseason opener. “Him coming down was a chance for me to get to know him and him to get to know me. One thing I’ve heard from him is I do a lot of yelling, but the reason I do a lot of yelling is because if you can tune out my yelling and still go out and make plays and stay on your feet and continue the drill, then you can tune out anything. I do a lot of yelling when the ball is in the air because that’s when the fans get loudest.”
To Beasley, it reminded him of the way Dez Bryant is at practice, pushing the receivers to get better.
“There’s all kinds of stuff he does, man. He probably talks the whole time. Even midroute,” Beasley said. “So that’s how it is in a game. There’s a lot of stuff that could distract you and you’ve got to stay locked in.”
The days started with work in the weight room and even that was different than what Beasley was expecting.
“It’s mostly about muscle endurance,” Beasley said. “It’s not as heavy as far as the weight goes, probably middle-weight kind, but fast pace and a lot of reps, and it’s almost like conditioning in the weight room. Usually most of the time I’ll do low reps and heavy weight trying to get more explosive.”
On the field, they worked on fast footwork and ran routes. That, too, was different because, “I mean I run routes differently than like damn near everybody,” Beasley said, “so it’s hard to kind of do that stuff.”
But Beasley went to Moss to learn more about playing as an outside receiver. Moss had Beasley running comebacks and post routes and learning how to use his quickness as an advantage on the outside to create lanes for the quarterback to throw the ball down the field. A receiver like Moss can rely on his size to create mismatches.
“My game is built on speed, OK,” Moss said. “Cole Beasley’s game is built on being quick and very precise, because if he’s not quick and he’s not precise, he will get his block knocked off in that middle. So there’s a lot of things that I did learn from guys like Wes and Cris Carter, but then flipping to the outside -- looking at Dez Bryant and his game, look at Calvin Johnson and his game. I look at Antonio Brown, and he does it on the outside and in the slot. That’s one thing I like for guys that come to me because just because you’ve perfected the slot, now go out and be a complete player and play outside. If you’re an outside receiver that doesn’t go in the slot, now go in there and be a whole, rounded player.”
In training camp, Beasley has lined up all over the field, including outside.
“I wanted to work on catching more deep balls and stuff like that because I don’t get very many of them,” Beasley said. “I think I’ve improved that part of my game there a lot, but I could learn more. It was just kind of trying to add stuff that he was good at and try to add it to mine.”
Beasley and Moss exchanged cell phone numbers and will keep in contact during the season. Beasley wants to pick Moss’s brain more on how he studied film and the edges he looked for there.
“He’s a real down-to-earth guy,” Beasley said. “...A Hall of Fame guy you might think is way up here. He’s not like that man. He’s humble, and I actually told him I’d be calling him.”
And Moss has a wish for Beasley.
“Hopefully he’ll come back next year,” Moss said, “so we can pick up where we left off.”