Last week was a tough one for the Bucs offense in several facets of the team’s 20-10 win at New Orleans. And it would seem after looking at the tape, they have decided to make a move to address at least one of the issues that crept into their tough fought win against the Saints. While the running game had trouble consistently creating yards and first downs, quarterback Tom Brady was playing his normal high level of football.

The problem was however, despite great quarterback play the Bucs receivers weren’t holding onto many of the passes. By my count Bucs targets dropped nine passes on the day. Now not all of these will count as drops on sites like Pro Football Focus. Some of these were absolute dimes where Brady put the ball in an extremely tight window that he really had no business throwing into. These throws forced receivers to make high difficulty catches that they are reasonably going to fail on at a decent clip.

But then there are also drops like these:

With injuries and ejections depleting Brady’s normal cast of sure-handed receivers, he was forced to try and rely on the likes of Ko Kieft, Rachaad White, Scotty Miller, and Breshad Perriman. The results were a mixed bag.

Bucs WR Scotty Miller – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Now I think it is important to note that one of the biggest narratives surrounding this team coming into the season was just how deep the Bucs were at pass catcher. Brady’s cast of weapons was billed as historically good. If the Bucs had such a deep bench, why are we now talking about a cupboard devoid of options?

Unfortunately for the Bucs the injuries hit in just such a way that it has left their quarterback without a reliable go-to short yardage option. Miller and Perriman are field-stretchers that tax a defense’s ability to defend large swaths of the field. But Miller lacks a large catch radius and Perriman sports a career drop percentage north of 10.

Russell Gage can be that guy. Although he is nursing a hamstring injury that I suspect is more serious than is being let on, which has tanked his effectiveness here in the early stages of the season.

When you factor in all of these things you now look around at unproven options like Kieft, White, Cade Otton, and Jaelon Darden, along with vets who have had their own recent history with drops in Cam Brate and Leonard Fournette. The situation isn’t ideal.

Enter Cole Beasley

Some might argue the Bucs were short-sighted in letting Tyler Johnson go during the final roster cut-downs on the eve of the season. His role was that of a short-to-intermediate slot option who could make tough catches. But Johnson himself had trouble securing tight window throws (because with Johnson’s lack of separation almost every throw to him was a tight window throw) while with the Bucs. That is evidenced by his own 12.7% career drop rate.

Nevertheless, the Bucs find themselves in the unenviable position of having to find Brady someone – anyone – he can trust to secure a catch to eat up a small chunk of yards and keep the offense moving forward. Well, it looks like they found their guy. Tampa Bay signed veteran receiver Cole Beasley to the practice squad with the intention to elevate him to their regular roster in short order. The 11-year receiver spent the last three years in Buffalo and the first seven of his career in Dallas.

Beasley has made his money throughout his career as just what the doctor has ordered for the Bucs offense. He is a short-yardage target who can secure a difficult catch.  Per Next Gen Stats, Beasley’s 73.21% catch rate ranked in the Top 20 in the NFL last season. Part of that is due to his skill set as having very secure hands, and some of that is due to the types of routes Beasley excels at and the types of routes he doesn’t and therefore isn’t asked to run. You aren’t going to see him trying to pull in passes like this:

That’s a 25-yard crossing route that requires good long speed to get uncovered. Miller’s skill set allows him to be a viable option on something like that. You can see it in Miller’s career average depth of target of 15.7.

Beasley’s aDOT? 6.6. While Beasley may eventually take Miller’s spot on the roster, he won’t take Miller’s role in the offense. And what is curious is Beasley isn’t really a prototypical receiver for any role in the Bucs offense. He isn’t an outside guy who can stretch the field. Beasley isn’t a big-bodied receiver with long speed capable of executing the blocking and getting downfield that a traditional Bruce Arians receiver is asked to do.

No, Beasley makes quick cuts and tough catches designed to move the offense 7-11 yards at a time. And he was doing it at a high-level as late as the Divisional Playoff Round last year playing for Buffalo against Kansas City. Check it out:

On first-and-10 Beasley grabs a four yard out and turns up field for four more yards. He gives Buffalo a favorable second-and-2 situation.

On third-and-3, Beasley runs another quick out to the sticks. He picks up just five yards, but more importantly a first down.

On second-and-10, Beasley uses his stop-start ability to grab a 3-yard hitch and turn it into a 9-yard gain, setting up a manageable third-and-1.

On first-and-10, he grabs a quick slant and churns up almost 25 tough yards.

Even at almost 33 years old, Beasley was still doing what he did best at a high level earlier this calendar year. I would argue that he still can do it now. For what it’s worth, so would he.

While he has since deleted his Twitter account, on August 28th Beasley sent out a tweet addressing claims that he couldn’t play at a high level anymore and the fact that he was still unsigned.

“All these “unemployed” jokes like I don’t have skill anymore. You don’t go from drawing double teams in the playoffs to not having it in the playoffs anymore within a few months. I still grabbed 80 catches with three broken ribs for half of them. No games missed. Don’t get it twisted.”

What Role Will Beasley Have?

We have established what Beasley is and what he isn’t. We have also established that this Bucs offense doesn’t have a role for the kind of receiver he is. So, who does he replace in the offense? As I alluded to earlier, he most likely takes Miller’s roster spot.

Bucs WR Cole Beasley – Photo by: USA Today

But in the offense? I think you are about to see a lot less of tight end Cam Brate when snap counts are released after games. Brate doesn’t block nearly as well as rookies Otton and Kieft. If he can’t block, Brate had better be able to get open and catch the ball. Brate averaged a paltry 2.6 yards of separation last year. If he can’t block and he can’t get open, he had better be able to catch what is thrown to you. Last year, Brate’s catch percentage was only 52.63%. And those issues have continued into this year.

Brate and veteran Kyle Rudolph were brought in to be that reliable underneath option and it appears the Bucs don’t feel like they are getting the job done. Otton and Kieft may become those options down the line. But for right now, during this win-now window, the Bucs are putting their faith in Cole Beasley helping to move the chains as a trusted underneath receiver – either playing Z (flanker) or the slot in trips/bunch formations.

And I think it will help the Bucs offense bridge the gap until the team’s starting wide receivers are back and at full strength.