Veteran slot receiver Cole Beasley gets his wish and is released from Giants practice squad

NEW YORK — Wide receiver Cole Beasley asked for his release from the Giants’ practice squad and got his wish.

Beasley, a close friend of coach Brian Daboll’s, and the Giants are mutually parting ways after he asked for his release and the team granted it, per NFL Network.

Obviously, Beasley initiated it, so he wanted out. He had resumed practicing on Oct. 11 after being on injured reserve with a quad injury.

But with the skidding Giants at 1-5 entering Sunday’s game against Washington, Beasley asked out.

The former Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills slot receiver signed with the Giants in July.

Beasley’s departure comes on the heels of a very strange comment by special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey on Thursday about the Giants’ personnel process.

McGaughey was asked why the Giants didn’t give Jamison Crowder — Washington’s punt returner and the NFC special teams player of Week 6 — more of a chance to return punts in the preseason before they cut him.

The coordinator implied there wasn’t a punt return competition in training camp, only a priority to prepare fifth-round rookie Eric Gray for the regular season role.

“All those guys were back there returning kicks every day and returning punts every day,” McGaughey said. “It was just more of trying to get Eric Gray comfortable. We knew what Jamison was. He’s done it in the past and we knew he had the ability to do it, but just trying to get Eric back there comfortable doing it again.”

Along with holding Sterling Shepard out of the lineup despite strong practice performances, playing Josh Ezeudu at left tackle when he couldn’t win a guard job, and insisting on playing overwhelmed sixth-round corner Tre Hawkins even after a benching, the Giants have made a curious amount of decisions that do not appear to have put them in a better position to win games.

A healthy Beasley could have helped them. But he couldn’t get on the field, so now he’s not on the team.