Dwayne Harris

Beasley likely to handle punt return job in season opener

Published Sep. 10, 2015 8:07 p.m. ET

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Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Thursday morning that his staff is still determining who will return punts on Sunday night against the Giants.

Several hours later, Cole Beasley seemed to shed some light on the situation when he was asked if he would assume the role for the season opener.

"I don't know. Probably, though â definitely been working on it all week in practice," he said. "I'm going to be ready if they need me back there."

It makes sense if Beasley does in fact handle punt returns to start the season. His primary competition, Lucky Whitehead, dealt with ball security issues during the preseason and was demoted from the starting returner job.

Garrett himself gave a hint about which way he was leaning when he was asked about it.

"Taking care of the football is really a very important thing when you're a punt returner and kickoff returner. So that's always a high priority," he said. "So the guy that you're most confident in will be able to take care of the ball. That goes way up in your thinking."

If that's the case, you'd have to lean toward Beasley. In the most meaningful game of the preseason, the third game, he took over for Whitehead and averaged 23 yards per return on two attempts. He also has 10 career punt returns in the regular season, averaging 6.8 yards on those.

The position will undoubtedly be spotlighted when the Cowboys and Giants finally kick off at AT&T Stadium â namely because of who will handle the job for New York. The season opener serves as Dwayne Harris' debut for the Giants, and he'll be going against the team he was once a special teams star for.

"We understand the challenges that he presents both as a returner and as a cover guy," Garrett said of Harris. "He was one of our best cover guys, on top of all the plays that he made as a returner. He brought a lot of the right kind of identity to our special teams units."

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