Coal is a combustible black sedimentary rock that is primarily used for fuel. It’s gotten a bad rap over the years due to its harmful effects on the environment. As it is burned, sulfur, mercury, lead, and arsenic are released into the atmosphere while emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. There are benefits to coal power plants, though. They are extremely reliable, affordable, and coal is an abundant resource. A heap of coal indeed. Cole Beasley of the Buffalo Bills has pros and cons as well. He’s extremely reliable, affordable, and is always open but how much fantasy power does he generate? Is he a heap of coal? Or a heap of Cole?
Beasley is 5-foot-8 and 174 pounds. He runs a 4.49 40-yard dash and 7.16 three-cone drill. He played his college ball at SMU and caught 86 and 87 passes for 1040 and 1060 yards in his last two seasons.
After going undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys signed him and spent seven seasons with the team. His high as a Cowboy was during the 2016 season when he caught 75 of 98 targets for 833 yards and five touchdowns.
In 2019, he took his talents to Buffalo and signed a four-year, $29 million contract. During his first season, he caught 67 of 106 targets for 778 yards and six touchdowns. Last season, he caught 82 of 107 targets for 967 yards and four touchdowns.
So far this year, he’s caught 23 of 30 targets for 194 yards. He’s had two games with 13 targets and went for 98 yards last week. In the other game, he only received four targets but that was a result of a 35-0 thrashing of the Dolphins.
Josh Allen is fourth in total pass attempts with 127. The Bills lean towards spreading out defenses and letting Allen get busy. They utilize 11 personnel 66% of the time, which is ninth-most in the NFL, go with four wide receivers 15% of plays, the only team in double-digits, and deploy five wide receivers five percent of the time, the only team above two percent.
As a result, Beasley has been on the field 91%, 60%, and 66% of the time during the first three games. Emmanuel Sanders has totaled 192 total snaps, Stefon Diggs at 189, and Beasley has racked up 168. Translation: he’s on the field a ton and will continue to be so.
As for targets, Diggs leads the Bills with 32. Beasley is second with 30. Beasley is seventh in the NFL with seven red-zone targets. Last year, he was 58th with 13 red-zone targets. So in three games, he has more than half of last season’s number.
Last year, Beasley finished as the 27th wide receiver in PPR leagues. He’s currently on pace to smash last season’s numbers. Can this torrid pace continue? There were six wide receivers who averaged at least 10 targets per game last season. All had a target share of at least 24%. Beasley was at 19.9% last year. Diggs is still the alpha on the team and will command close to a 30% share. Sanders is an integral piece of the offense now and will take a little bit from both Diggs and Beasley.
That said, with defenses having another receiver to account for, it will be very difficult to bracket Beasley now, especially since they would be more inclined to allow the shorter passes and keep things in front of them. You can already see this manifest as Beasley had an aDOT of 7.8 and 8 the last two years. That number is at 4.9.
A 1000-yard season probably won’t happen, but a 100+ catch season is definitely in play. Touchdowns are unpredictable but if he continues getting those red-zone looks then over five is viable.
Beasley can be a top 25 wide receiver for fantasy but most will not be enamored because he doesn’t make highlight catches or score a ton of touchdowns. Beasley is no heap of coal, though. This heap of Cole can pile up those PPR points for you.
