The Raiders selected two wide receivers in the first four rounds of this year’s draft, and both have received a lot of praise in their first few months with the team.
Jack Bech was reportedly on the Rams’ radar prior to the Raiders taking him in the second round and Dont’e Thornton was said to have teams trying to trade up for him before GM John Spytek landed him in the fourth round.
Thornton was one of the team’s surprise players at OTAs, and some have speculated that he might be in line for a bigger role than originally anticipated.
But on the idea of Thornton getting more time on the field in his rookie year than Bech, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore isn’t on board with that line of thinking just yet.
“Jack Bech… plays the same position as Jakobi Meyers, but I believe, this is my thoughts anyway, he’s such a versatile player and I think that at this point, probably the more polished wide receiver in terms of the route running [compared to Dont’e Thornton],” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT The Brick Show. “The understanding of the position, all the various things that he can do, the more polished or advanced wide receiver at this point, as opposed to Dont’e Thornton, who’s still kind of a work in progress because of the offense that he played in at Tennessee.”
“I think as the year goes on, a guy like Jack Bech is going to make a compelling case for himself to be on the field more often than not, not just as a replacement for Jakobi Meyers, but in conjunction with Jakobi Meyers,” Bonsignore continued.
“I think as the season goes on and the more the Raiders see of Jack Bech, the more Geno Smith develops chemistry with Jack Bech. I could see him kind of forcing his way onto the field, maybe a little bit more as it plays out than a Dont’e Thornton, who I’m not trying to shortchange or anything like that. But I think there’s a little bit more of a learning curve there, and maybe he’s going to be a little bit more situationally based, whereas a Jack Bech can play in any situation, at any given time, in any personnel grouping.”
There’s a lot of time between now and the first week of the regular season, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the wide receiver room in Las Vegas plays out in training camp and the preseason.
Bech and Thornton won’t necessarily be competing with each other for playing time this year because their skill sets are so different.
As for the Raiders potentially adding a wide receiver, it would make sense for them to add a veteran at the position before the start of the season. In the meantime, it looks like the plan has been to give Bech and Thornton as many offseason reps as possible.
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Run run run then boom Thornton in the ez! Bech doesn’t drop anything, all hands baby. Touchdown Tommy in the slot and special teams !!!!! Mayer and Bowers will rock. Can’t wait