Controversy has surrounded Cole Beasley over the last couple of seasons, especially during his first stint with the Buffalo Bills.
The 33-year-old wideout is now trying to put that behind him, even sitting down with Bills general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott to clear the air as he unretired this week and was signed by Buffalo.
“The last two years were difficult on everybody,” Beasley told reporters Wednesday, per ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg. “I don’t really want to go into all of the things we talked about, me and Brandon and coach McDermott, but there needed to be some conversations there that we needed to have. I’m just happy that we all could do that as men and talk about it and resolve issues.”
Beasley, who played for the Bills from 2019-2021 before suiting up in just two games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, got himself in hot water when he first played with the Bills due to speaking out about the NFL and NFLPA’s COVID-19 policies. Beasley also missed a game last season for testing positive for the virus while being unvaccinated.
To make matters worse for Beasley, he was also fined multiple times throughout the 2021 season due to violations of COVID-19 protocols, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
Not one afraid to share his mind on social media, Beasley tweeted in November in response to a fan that he was glad he wasn’t playing in Buffalo anymore as well.
Beasley admitted he wished he had done some things differently during his first go-around with the Bills, and wanted a shot to make things right.
“I loved the fan base here. There were some times last year where I would get some stuff from people and it would be a little frustrating just because, before it wasn’t like that,” Beasley said, per Getzenberg. “So, it was a change. Nobody’s perfect. I didn’t handle everything how I wanted to and a lot of that was a big reason I wanted to come back as well. It’s really the internet world because outside of that there was nothing negative for the most part.”
Beasley posted back-to-back seasons of 82 receptions for a loaded Bills offense and figures to be in the mix down the stretch of the regular season as a slot option alongside Isaiah McKenzie.
If the veteran wideout can replicate even a semblance of that sort of production, he has the chance to factor in on a Buffalo team that has as good of a shot as anybody to make it to the Super Bowl.
