After making the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of SMU, receiver Cole Beasley has become so reliable the team rewarded him before the 2015 season with a four-year contract extension (photo by PonyFans.com).

For as long as he can remember, Cole Beasley has had to prove people wrong. In high school, he was the undersized running quarterback while his father, Mike, was the head coach at Little Elm High School, about 30 miles north of Dallas. He drew little attention from college recruiters, eventually signing with SMU with the understanding that he would be switching to slot receiver at the college level. After a productive career with the Mustangs, Beasley put on a show for NFL scouts at SMU’s Pro Day, but at least in part because of his diminutive stature, he went undrafted. The longest of longshots made the team, and won the trust of head coach Jason Garrett and quarterback Tony Romo. Before the 2015 season, the Dallas Cowboys rewarded him with a four-year contract extension.

But Beasley says he still feels like the undersized afterthought, the guy who still has to scratch and claw just to get reps in practice and earn a roster on the team. At the Cowboys’ first organized team activities (OTAs), Beasley visited with PonyFans.com to discuss his contract, his relationship with his father (and high school coach), and his first foray into fatherhood.

PonyFans.com: Last year, you tied for second on the team with 52 receptions. Were you surprised at all by the increase in your production?

Cole Beasley: No, because I’m a guy that always wants more, so if anything, I was upset that I didn’t do more. But my job is just to make plays whenever my number is called, so that’s what I try to do, and I actually left a few out there that I should have had, so really it should have been more than that. So I’m actually disappointed because I had opportunities that could have led to more.

PonyFans.com: You say you wanted to make more plays, that there were some that you “left out there.” How much of those plays was a result of the fact that within one season, you were catching passes from four different quarterbacks (Tony Romo, Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore)?

Beasley: You’re still running the same offense and the same plays — it’s just a different guy throwing the ball, so my doesn’t change at all. Different quarterbacks are better at different things, so when we switch quarterbacks, we switch it up so the game plan favors what they’re better at. But we’re still running the same offense, so you can’t use stuff like that as an excuse. At the end of the day, I’m still running routes out there against the DB, and I’ve got to win.

PonyFans.com: Romo is the most experienced of the group, but from your perspective as a receiver, are there significant differences — the way the ball looks coming out of their hand, or their cadences when they call plays? — when the different quarterbacks are running the offense?

Beasley: There’s always a difference. I mean, no two guys throw the same. But it doesn’t take long to get used to a new guy back there. You see it once, and after that, you’re alright. It doesn’t take long to get used to a different kind of ball. All of our quarterbacks throw a good ball, so it wasn’t much different.

Former SMU receiver Cole Beasley tied for second among all Dallas Cowboys players in 2015-16 with 52 catches, and led the team with five receiving touchdowns (photo by PonyFans.com).

PonyFans.com: Last March, you signed a contract extension. Apart from the fact that it meant you had more money in the bank, how did it change your comfort level with the team, or your approach to the season? Or did it?

Beasley: No, not really. Nobody’s really safe, and the fact of the matter is that every year, they’re trying to draft somebody to replace you, because that’s what makes the team the best, you know? They promote competition around here, so no matter how much you’re getting paid, everything’s up for grabs. This is the NFL. The best players are going to play.

So my approach stayed the same. Just because I got a little pay increase … I can’t let it change.

PonyFans.com: Did you treat yourself, splurge on anything?

Beasley: Yeah. There’s something I always wanted to do: I bought my family a hunting ranch about five hours away from here. My dad’s pretty much living out there now. He’s taking care of it for me, so it’s just a place for all of my family to get together and enjoy holidays or go hunting.

PonyFans.com: When you were a rookie, you said something along the lines of the fact that you remembered being lightly recruited coming out of high school and making it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent coming out of SMU, and that you wanted to play your whole career like a rookie who had to earn his spot on the team. Now that you have a little security with the extension you signed last year, is it difficult to maintain that approach?

Beasley: No. Because I still feel doubted daily by people. People try to limit me and tell me what I can’t do, still to this day. I’ve still got to prove myself every game, every series, every down. Nothing has really changed for me. People see the contract and maybe the expectations raise a little bit, but at the same time, people are still telling me I can’t go downfield or I’m just a third-down guy. I still hear that stuff all the time. If I didn’t have that, I don’t know what I’d have, because that’s how it’s been since the beginning. That’s all I know, so that drives me more than anything.

PonyFans.com: You always have been the little guy, scrapping and clawing to earn your roster spot, and you have said that’s going to be tough throughout your career. So which is more difficult — proving your value to the team each year or learning to be a dad?

Beasley: Probably learning how to be a dad, just because it’s so new to me [Beasley’s son is 18 months old]. I have a little experience at the other part, fighting to make teams. People have doubted me all the time, so I’m used to that, but being a dad because it’s something new to me. But I had good parents growing up, so that helps a lot.

It just changes a lot, man, it changes everything. It ain’t about you anymore — you go home, and you have this little life that you have to mold.

PonyFans.com: You mentioned your dad [Mike], who’s taking care of your ranch. You used to play for him. So when you get together now, how much of the conversation is about football? Does he talk to you like a coach talking to a player, or is it more about you being a dad and him being a grandfather?

Beasley: He doesn’t really coach me as much as he used to. He’ll see a play during the game and he’ll ask “what’s supposed to happen on that play?” Or “why didn’t they throw it to you there? It’s just small stuff — nothing like it was in high school. He’s kind of just enjoying watching now. He’s more of a fan now than anything. He’ll still bring up some things, but not very often.

Beasley says he is flattered when young, undersized players compare themselves to him (photo by PonyFans.com).

PonyFans.com: You have talked a lot about how you have had your critics, the people who said you were too small or came from too small of school. Your dad, obviously, has been with you your whole life, and like you said, he coached you. Is he surprised with the amount of success you have had?

Beasley: I don’t know. I’ve never asked him. Maybe if I was playing quarterback, he probably would be surprised then. But I don’t know. That’s a really good question — I’ve never asked him.

But he always knew that this is what I wanted to do, and he knows how I am, how much I compete and how much I work. So I’d say no, but I’ve never asked him that.

PonyFans.com: A couple of the guys who Chad Morris and his staff have recruited at SMU have put photos with you on social media. What’s it like to be recognized as an SMU guy and a Dallas Cowboy, to have people see you as someone they want a picture with?

Beasley: Honestly, it’s a little weird, because I’m not a guy who likes a lot of attention. I’m flattered, of course, but in the offseason, I’m rarely out in places. People will take pictures with me when I go out to eat, but other than that, I’m at home with my family, so I don’t like to do much. I don’t really like attention. That’s something I’ll never get used to, it’s a little different for me. I’m just a small-town, country kid. But when I go to SMU, it’s fine. I didn’t get to go to a game last year — I went to the spring game, but (during the season), we’re always busy on Saturdays, you know?

PonyFans.com: You got some attention a couple of years ago when you said in an interview that you were tired of the Wes Welker comparisons. But now, there have been “undersized” high school players who say they “want to be like Cole Beasley.” What is it like when you hear people say that?

Beasley: It’s crazy, because I was in their shoes, so I know what it’s like. It makes you proud, because I was in their shoes and I wanted to be where somebody else was. I got my opportunity, and now I’m doing what I always wanted to do. It’s crazy, though. I never really thought that would happen — it’s a little different for me.

That’s a cool thing, a really cool thing, though. If there’s ever guys out there that you inspire, it’s an awesome thing. To have guys look at you … I’m a small guy, you know, so any time guys look at you and they see you and it makes them think they can do something better if they can be like you, it’s always a good thing, it’s always positive. But then there are the guys who look at it as a negative, like, “if he can do it, I can do it,” just because I don’t look like much. So there’s stuff you get tired of, but the other part, when someone says he wants to do what you do, it’s really cool.