Exceeding expectations in Jack Bech’s wheelhouse

Fellow rookie Dont’e Thornton Jr. garners a lot of attention but it’s the Las Vegas Raiders’ second-rounder that has skillset to be an ample No. 2 wide receiver

Any wide receiver who is 6-foot-5 and runs a 4.30-flat 40-yard dash is going to make NFL coaches heads turn. Not only coaches, but scouts other front office player personnel folk, and general managers.

Thus, when the Las Vegas Raiders selected Tennessee wideout Dont’e Thornton Jr. in the fourth-round of the 2025 NFL Draft this past April, it was dubbed a classic throwback Silver & Black draft pick. Standing 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds with explosive speed, the long-striding receiver fills the “scare you to death” speed the Raiders routinely deployed in other eras.

That all said, while Thornton is a head-turning prospect, it’s another wide receiver from the same draft class that merits even more attention: Second-round pick Jack Bech.

By The Numbers
Jack Bech, Wide Receiver, TCU

• 2024: 12 games, 62 receptions, 1,034 yards, 9 touchdowns
• Career: (LSU 2021-22; TCU 2023-24) 45 games, 133 receptions, 1,869 yards, 13 touchdowns

Standing 6-foot-1 and 214 pounds, the TCU product doesn’t bring the same tantalizing height/speed combo as his later-drafted fellow rookie, but what Bech does bring to the table is unbridled physicality, sure hands, and an uncanny ability to exceed expectations.

And that’ll play well for the Pete Carroll-led Raiders.

Las Vegas’ veteran head coach didn’t mince words and set the bar high for his desert marauders noting he expects the team to win a lot of games in 2025. The boisterous claim was to a point where even elite defensive end Maxx Crosby had this to say in response: “So we’ve got to be delusional enough to believe in what we can truly do. That’s the only way you can go out there and win.”

If you took a glance at Bech’s collegiate exploits, it’s of one that shatters initial impressions. While he brings good size to the wide receiver position, Bech’s game isn’t predicated on pure speed — unlike Thornton. Dating back to his days at LSU and TCU, Bech is a tactician and bully who pairs the cerebral aspect of route running along with pure physicality to batter defenders at the top of his routes. He’s an aggressive pass catcher who is more like a Dennis Rodman-type rebounder when the ball is in flight.

It’s that innate skill that helped Bech have a quantum leap in production from 2023 to 2024 at TCU — 12 receptions, 146 yards in ’23 to 62 catches, 1,034 yard, and nine touchdowns in his final season with the Horned Frogs.

Bech is also a fearless runner who has no qualms going into the danger zone of the middle of the field and has strong and reliable hands, too boot.

If there’s an NFL comparison to be made with Bech’s game it’s fellow Raider Jakobi Meyers.

Like his productive veteran counterpart, Bech has inside-outside versatility where he can line up and operate out on the perimeter or shift inside to work in the slot.

This is similar versatility Meyers brings to the table and with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly a firm believer in putting his players in the best possible position to succeed and in a system that tailors to their strengths instead of forcing a scheme onto them, this bodes well for the entire wide receiver room.

“For all those guys, it’s just really, truly understanding the offense. For a veteran, they’re thinking about their release plan. For a rookie, they’re thinking about, ‘Do I line up plus two from the hash, minus one from the hash. My route is a slant,’ and they haven’t even recognized the defense yet. But when you’re an older player, that stuff’s kind of second nature for them,” Kelly said when asked about Bech being used in a variety of spots on offense during the offseason so far. “Now, it’s ‘What’s my plan? Is it press? Is it off man? How do I want to release?’ Some of those things. So it’s just him getting more comfortable in our scheme. And like a lot of college players nowadays, he played in two different systems. He was in LSU’s system and did a nice job in that system, and he also played for Sonny (Dykes) and TCU, and so that was a different system. So he’s sharp, and he’s picking things up, but both him, Dont’e, Ashton (Jeanty) they’re still rookies.

“Even though they got here right after the draft, they haven’t had pads on. We still haven’t gotten to that point. So we’re still running around, and hopefully everyone looks good in this, and they do. So that’s a positive.”

There’s no doubt the Raiders need Thornton to translate his scintillating speed to the pro game to help augment the fleet-footed nature Tre Tucker brings to the group. But it’s also integral Bech’s physical and savvy shows up for the Raiders, too.

The explosive and speedy options at the position group will help not only keep defenses honest with their jets, but it also serves as a clear-out option for work underneath — a place where Meyers and (the Raiders are hoping) Bech can thrive. Bech’s ability to find the soft spots in zone defense and then make himself an ample target is going to make him a quarterback’s safety net.

And for a Raiders offense that performed too like a trapeze artists that faceplanted onto the hard unforgiving ground due to no safety valve, Bech should prove to be a fruitful prospect.