After trading down a couple times, the Raiders selected Jack Bech in the second round of the 2025 draft, but in his rookie year, Bech didn’t get a lot of opportunities and didn’t do much with his opportunities when he got them.
Some dismissed Bech’s rookie season because of the coaching circumstances in Las Vegas, and the hiring of head coach Klint Kubiak has been perceived to be a beneficial change for Bech and the offensive unit as a whole.
So far, though, it doesn’t seem like Kubiak’s presence has changed the narrative on Bech.
There were a few optimistic discussions around Bech going into OTAs, but it feels like a lot of that enthusiasm has dried up from media members who attended OTA sessions in recent weeks.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers was the most recent to comment on Bech, and he said the second-year wideout simply hasn’t stood at practices.
Still waiting for Bech to “Pop” at practice
“Jack Bech really has not popped yet. And again, it’s super early, there’s no pads, there’s none of that going on, so I don’t want to rush to judgment and say he’s not a good player or he’s a bust,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast.
“He just hasn’t popped. There’s times when we’re out there watching and someone makes a play and you have to real quick, grab your, oh man, hold on. Who’s that? and start grabbing your roster. Oh, who’s that number? Oh, boom, that was, okay, 42. Keyron Crawford. We never had that moment with Jack Bech. We never had that moment where a nice catch was made or a nice route was ran and a guy was wide open and we ever looked down and be like, ‘Oh, that was Jack Bech.’ We just haven’t really felt his presence out there.”
Myers says Bech needs to work on creating more separation
“For me, something that he’s going to have to work on throughout the course of right now to the start of training camp is his separation,” Myers continued.
“However, he goes about doing that, right? Whatever wide receiver, you know, coach he’s working with or whatever drills he’s doing by himself, whoever he’s getting to throw passes to, I think the biggest thing for him is going to be trying to create separation.”
“Because again, for OTAs while he was out there and we got to see him again, we only got to see a handful of OTAs. And of course, a couple of days, at mandatory minicamp, you never got the sense that Jack Bech was there. Dont’e Thornton, you saw a lot of him on Wednesday, and you could see his presence as well and that speed that he has, that’s one of those that you can’t help but to notice. You saw the ball go to Benson, the rookie out of Oregon, you saw the ball go to him quite a bit. But just didn’t see the attention to detail and Jack Bech making too many plays.”
Raiders’ 5th Round pick had some success against Bech at OTAs
For what it’s worth, Myers said some of Bech’s struggles have come across from rookie fifth-round pick Hezekiah Masses.
“There was a couple of times I saw him lined up across from Hezekiah Masses and I remember telling Jesse Merrick, ‘You got to beat him. The way that he’s playing you on the line of scrimmage, he’s playing you in a bump and run. You’ve got to be able to be more physical at the line of scrimmage and get off that.’
“It just didn’t seem like the physicality was quite there. That’s why I said he needs to work on creating separation. You know, the point of attack when the ball is snapped to be able to get away from the defender. If they’re playing you bump and run, you can’t let that physicality throw you off your route. You’ve got to be able to get into your route and go and f they do press up on you, you’ve got to be able to shed that.”
“That was the one thing that I haven’t seen. I think training camp is going to be huge for Jack Bech. Do I think that he’s not going to make the team? No, not at all. That’s not what I’m saying. I just think that training camp is going to tell you a whole lot. I saw a lot of him on Wednesday because the twos and threes were out there and I just didn’t see what I thought I was going to see.”
x: @raidersbeat