Dallas Cowboys: Why Cole Beasley will lead team in receptions again

The Dallas Cowboys are absolutely loaded at receiver, and in an offense that targets open players above all, Cole Beasley is primed to lead the team in receptions yet again.

The Dallas Cowboys are only two days away from kicking off the 2017 season against the New York Giants. As we do every year, we make predictions based on expectations and circumstances. If you’ve been following along we’ve already predicted which player will lead the team in sacks. We’ve also discussed which player we think will lead the team in interceptions.

Heck, before the preseason even began we predicted who we think will lead the team in blitzes. Today we take a look at who will lead the team in receptions…

Note: This will be the last predictions installment since the leading passer and leading rusher are all but guaranteed to be Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, respectively.

The Contestants

The headliners of the Dallas Cowboys receiving group are well known: Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley, and Jason Witten.

Sure, Witten is a tight end and not technically a receiver, but he’s been a primary target on this offense for over the past decade plus so he clearly belongs in the discussion.

it would actually be shocking if Dez Bryant led the 2017 Dallas Cowboys in receptions.

Dez Bryant is unequivocally the Dallas Cowboys’ best receiver on the roster. Widely considered a top-5 receiver in the NFL (when healthy), Dez Bryant would be the knee-jerk answer for many.

I mean Julio Jones is the best receiver on his team and he gets the most receptions. Mike Wallace is the best on his team and he dominates the receptions. The list goes on and on. But it’s not that clear-cut on the Cowboys.

The Cowboys Offense

The Dallas Cowboys’ offense isn’t like most of those offenses. Built around an Air Coryell model, Jason Garrett doesn’t force-feed the ball to any one man, but rather spreads the ball around based on pre-snap reads, coverage, and mismatches.

Considering this, it would actually be shocking if Dez Bryant led the 2017 Dallas Cowboys in receptions. The attention he demands from defenses, and the routes he’s asked to run, make it far from likely. He’s still the most important element and the biggest game-breaker on the team, he’s just not a volume type of receiver.

When you think of Dez, think quality rather than quantity.

For as uncreative as it may be to predict, the clear answer to this is none other than Cole Beasley. Beasley led the Cowboys in catches last season with 75 receptions. Operating from the slot, the former undrafted free agent from SMU has developed quite the knack for breaking free of coverage.

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Cole Just Got Better

Last season, he ran open far more often than he was actually targeted. After an offseason of film review, this fact is well known to quarterback Dak Prescott. Cole Beasley is seemingly open all the time, and particularly against man coverage, he’s impossible to cover. Anyone who watched training camp can attest: Cole is always open.

The Dak to Bease relationship has evolved into a thing of beauty. Dak Prescott enjoyed one of the best QBR’s in the NFL when targeting Beasley last season. Additionally, Beasley had one of the lowest drop percentages (dropping only two passes) making him a reliable target on 3rd down.

While Prescott is a true pocket QB, the Cowboys still enjoy rolling him out from and hitting receivers on various degrees of “go”, “comeback” and “out” routes. And it’s those out routes that Beasley is particularly effective:

Despite all signs pointing to another career year for Beasley, many are predicting a decline in production this season.

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It seems the addition of rookie Ryan Switzer are causing some to believe thy’ll be splitting snaps to some degree. While that’s sure to happen in future seasons, it’s just not very likely to happen now.

Cole Beasley is in his prime and he and Dak Prescott are just scratching the surface of what they can combine to be.

Switzer is going to be  apart of this offense, but it likely look more like Lucky Whitehead’s old role than Cole Beasley’s timeshare partner.

Who’s going to lead the Dallas Cowboys in receptions this season?

As long as he can stay healthy it’s going to be Cole Beasley. And I’ll even go out on a limb and say it’s going to be by a country mile. Expect a career year for Bease in ’17.

Next: Why the Cowboys offense will be even better in 2017

The Dallas Cowboys are loaded at receiver this season but Cole Beasley stands to receive the most targets. He only dropped two passes last season and is proving to be a game-breaker and a reliable target.