OXNARD, California. — Cooper Beebe doesn’t get anything for free, but that doesn’t stop him from busting his ass to get it. Despite being selected as one of the Dallas Cowboys’ two third-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, he will have to earn his way into the role of starting center after being moved to the position from guard, where he dominated at Kansas State.
Three words: trust the process.
“I think I’m doing pretty well,” Beebe said after the second practice game against the Rams, which was his first start as a center on the first team. “… Playing against their best guys helps and further prepares me for these challenges against these top guys – that’s priceless.”
After receiving huge praise from head coach Mike McCarthy and players alike for his rapid development, Beebe passes the eye test with flying colors and without the need for a pencil sharpener.
That test included his very first NFL preseason game, where he made a lot of good shots against the Rams. After getting over the butterflies in his first official game, he can now shed the rest of his cocoon, and that’s exactly what he did.
“When I went out there for my first preseason game, it was surreal,” he said. “…To have that experience was a dream come true.”
He settled in well on Aug. 11, including with his explanations at the line of scrimmage, and it wasn’t as if it added any extra pressure when he saw Cowboys legend and former center Travis Frederick working out in Oxnard.
OK, of course it was, but it served as additional motivation and, if the early film is any indication, it worked.
“Obviously, once you’re in the game, it’s easier,” Beebe said. “The playbook gets shorter and it gets easier, but I think I’ve done well. There are a few weird looks here and there that I need to continue to work on, but overall I think I’m doing pretty well.”
To accomplish a mission unaccomplished against a worthy teammate like Brock Hoffman heading into their second preseason game, this time against the Las Vegas Raiders, Beebe really needed to perfect his ability to snap the ball before he could be considered a viable center in the NFL – something he struggled with in terms of consistency at the start of training camp in Oxnard.
But through a combination of tireless offseason work, which included snapping photos of his mom and family in the yard, and the extra work he’s done outside of training in Southern California, he’s far enough along in the process that he seems confident and doesn’t worry too much anymore.
Objectively speaking, he worked his ass off.
“It’s become second nature,” the former All-American told Unanimous. “I just know it was a good snap unless they tell me. I really don’t worry about it anymore.”
It doesn’t hurt to learn from Zack Martin, who is an instant Hall of Famer, and it doesn’t hurt that Martin is sitting right next to Beebe, so he can get real-time advice and adjustments from one of the greatest players of all time.
The relationship between the two is off to a great start, and Beebe cites the nine-time All-Pro as a key reason not only for his progress, but also for how quickly it is coming.
“The most important thing is that he shows me how to be a professional, how to take care of his body, how to study film and what he looks for,” Beebe said. “It’s stuff like that and little things that people don’t think about that make the biggest difference. I think for me it’s how consistent he is on his sets and how he holds his hands.”
“With him, every rep is the same and that’s why he’s great – his consistency.”
And that’s what McCarthy and the Cowboys have expected from Beebe so far before integrating him into the first team in training camp and preseason games.
He has not taken their trust in him lightly. His work ethic is that of a blue-collar worker, and that is a very bright silver lining to his initial problems in the camp.
And that’s perfect considering that blue and silver… well… you get the idea.
“Ultimately, I have control over how things go,” Beebe said, staying true to his confidence. “I have to keep working and keep getting better. It’s in my hands how things go. … (During the season opener) I was a little nervous, but once you get through the first game, you realize it’s just football.”
“This is something I have been doing my whole life and that is why it is enjoyable for me.”
The fact that he played defensive line in high school definitely made things easier. It was a similar story with Trevon Diggs, who used his time as a wide receiver to become a record-breaking cornerback in the NFL.
“It helps a lot,” Beebe said. “You find out what the defenders are trying to do and how they’re trying to attack you and those different things. I definitely see some of their techniques that I used when I played defensive tackle that I pay attention to now that I’m an offensive lineman.”
There’s a very real chance that Beebe will be in the starting lineup from Day 1 alongside fellow rookie and first-round pick Tyler Guyton when the Cowboys travel to face the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 8. If so, it would be one of the rare occasions where Dallas will have two rookies (and a Hall of Famer) on the same offensive line to begin a season.
It’s a good thing that Beebe’s chemistry flows not only to the right with Martin, but also to and through Tyler Smith to the left and outside with Guyton; and both Guyton and Beebe have been working out with offensive line guru Duke Manyweather of OL Masterminds in the offseason.
The bond is there and it is real.
“Oh, that’s my guy!” he said excitedly of Guyton. “We met in college. He obviously played at Oklahoma and I played at Kansas State, so we’ve known each other for a while. And then we got drafted to the same place? We hit it off right away.”
There’s no shortage of pressure on Beebe to get going, and while that pressure isn’t nearly as much as the one on Guyton’s shoulders, Beebe sees it differently. For him, he bears the same responsibility as Guyton, regardless of draft status.
There is still a lot of work ahead for Beebe and it will honestly never stop, just ask Martin, but he is opening a lot of eyes as he begins his professional career with the Cowboys.
The bottom line is that Beebe gets the ball out of the dirt while sending more and more defenders in.
