Cole Beasley 'being taught how to run routes' for first time under new wide receivers coach

Cole Beasley is just one day in at Cowboys’ three-day minicamp and he’s already singing high praises for Dallas’ new wide receiver coach.

Sanjay Lal replaced former wide receivers coach Derek Dooley this offseason — who is now the offensive coordinator at Missouri. And according to Beasley, he’s actually learning how to run routes for the first time in his NFL career — something Dooley apparently never taught them.

“It feels like the first time we’re actually being taught how to run routes instead of just naturally doing (it),” Beasley said. “When you get to the NFL and you’re supposed to know, stuff is assumed. Lal narrows down step by step, doesn’t assume anything from basics.”

Route running has been an issue in Dallas over the last several years. In fact, it was the biggest area in former Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant’s game that route guru David Robinson pinpointed before becoming his personal coach this offseason.

Beasley said that Lal — who held the same position with the Indianapolis Colts last season after spending two years with the Buffalo Bills — has been changing the “demeanor” in his route running this offseason, too, something he hopes helps him on the field this fall.

“I’ve been real patient at the line a lot in my career,” Beasley told Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. “And now there are things that I need to do to have change-ups, if you will, and different ways to come off the ball and attack.

“I was a little passive last year waiting to see what, I got so many different looks I was waiting to see what they were going to do before I started my route and I wasn’t as good of a route runner because of it. Just firing off the ball and playing fast is what I’m focusing on.”

Beasley is entering his seventh season in the league, and the final year of his four-year contract with the Cowboys. Beasley made just 36 catches, nearly half as many as he averaged the two years prior, for 314 yards last season. The Houston native recorded a team-high 75 catches for more than 830 yards in 2016 — more both Dez Bryant and Jason Witten.

While they’re only a day into minicamp and the regular season is still months away, maybe Lal is the key for Beasley to get his numbers back to what they were.

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