Cole Beasley said he had to right a lot of wrongs before his reunion with the Bills on Tuesday. The veteran wide receiver cut short his retirement to re-sign with Buffalo, as the AFC East leaders pursue another playoff run. But first, he had extensive conversations with Bills coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane to “resolve issues” that still lingered from his first stint with the team. 

“The last two years were difficult on everybody,” Beasley said Wednesday. “I don’t really want to go into all of the things we talked about, with me and Brandon and Coach McDermott, but there needed to be some conversations there that we needed to have. I’m just happy that we all could do that as men and talk about it and resolve issues.” 

Beasley was entangled in controversy last year for being outspoken on social media about his pro-choice stance on vaccines, as well as his thoughts on the NFL’s COVID policies. He was reportedly fined multiple times for violating the league’s COVID protocol. 

In December 2021, Beasley tested positive for COVID-19 while being unvaccinated and missed one game while on the reserve/COVID-19 list. 

“Nobody’s perfect,” Beasley said. “I didn’t handle everything how I wanted to. A lot of that was a big reason I wanted to come back as well. It’s really the internet world with that, because outside of here there was nothing negative for the most part.” 

Beasley added that he didn’t like the way things ended with Buffalo in March, when he was released by the team following his request for a trade. The then-free agent signed with the Buccaneers in September, but retired after two games with Tampa Bay to “be a full-time dad and husband.” 

“I just knew I still wanted to play,” Beasley said. “The retirement was more of, it wasn’t the situation that I thought it was going to be in Tampa,” Beasley said. “I didn’t like the way things ended here. When we first got here, my family fell in love with Buffalo. I wanted to get back to that.” 

Beasley said he reached out to Beane right after Thanksgiving letting him know that he was still open to playing. That came after he tweeted in early November, “You and me both” to a fan who said they were glad he’s not in Buffalo. 

“We talked about some things on the fringes without getting into our conversation, but I think Cole deep down is a good person and whether you agree with his views or not, at the core, he’s a good person,” Beane said. “And even throughout his tenure here, even though everything wasn’t perfect, he was never a malicious person, anything like that. It was just his way of communicating, and, so, we got on the same page of what we would want it to be with him here and … he saw it the same way.” 

Beasley adds a veteran presence and receiver depth for the Bills, behind Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis and Isaiah McKenzie.Last season, he recorded 82 catches for 693 yards and one touchdown in 16 games with the Bills. 

The Bills host the Dolphins on Saturday night