Weeks After Retiring From Bucs, Cole Beasley Says He Still Has “Hunger” To Play – JoeBucsFan.com – Tampa Bay Bucs Blog, Buccaneers News

Had his fill of family?

Joe thought this was weird at the time and as the months have gone by, Joe’s initial thought has only been reinforced.

Something is and was very odd about how former Bucs receiver Cole Beasley left the team this past season. In early October, Beasley said he retired after only a few weeks with the team because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

After a few weeks, he re-signed with his old team, the Bills.

Really missed that family, eh Cole?

Joe brings this up because Beasley last week told Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News that he plans to continue playing in 2023 and that he still has an appetite for the game of football.

“At this point in my career, I’m still hungry and my body feels good,” he said. “I still feel like I can do it and I can compete and play at a level that I’ve been playing at before this season.

“Obviously, I want to be somewhere that I can win, and I know that’s [in Buffalo], also. If that option is there, I would definitely do that. We’ll just have to see.”

So why is Joe bringing all of this up? Beasley retiring (quitting?) on the Bucs so he could spend more time with his family, so he claimed, didn’t wash with what Beasley told Joe just two weeks before he retired.

Tom Brady had been very active the past three seasons in recruiting stud veterans to the Bucs. That worked like a charm until this past season when Brady’s targets flopped.

Brady may not have lost his quarterbacking skills but his football vision was sure slipping.

When the Bucs signed Beasley, Joe asked Beasley if Brady was hounding him to come to Tampa Bay. Beasley, standing maybe four feet from Joe, looked right at Joe and said the opposite was true.

“I will be honest, I was hitting [Brady] up a lot,” Beasley said. “I have been wanting to play with Brady for a long time. I’m excited about the opportunity and am excited to get back at it.”

So what happened? It wasn’t like Beasley wasn’t getting playing time. He had four catches in two games on five targets coming off the bench.

Joe is convinced Beasley got a taste of failed Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and bailed. Of course, there is always the chance the Bucs deemed him unworthy after two games and to spare embarrassing him, they gave Beasley the option to throw in the towel/quit.

Something sure spooked Beasley.