When the Las Vegas Raiders drafted wide receiver Jack Bech out of TCU in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, fans expected a lot. Perhaps the post-draft Cooper Kupp comparisons were a bit premature, but it is not as if that theoretical ceiling doesn't exist for Bech now under Klint Kubiak.
But Pete Carroll all but wasted Bech's rookie year. Raider Nation thought he would be a key factor in Year 1 and be the eventual heir to the Jakobi Meyers throne. But if fans knew on draft night that they would trade Meyers and Bech would lose snaps to Tyler Lockett, a fight might have broken out.
Thankfully, all of that is in the past, and although Bech's production wasn't anything to write home about last season, he made the most of his opportunities, so the fanbase's hope remains. And with better coaching, confidence remains high that Kubiak and Co. can get the most out of him.
A plan needs to be in place for the young player, though, and it seems like the Raiders already have one in motion, based on reports from OTAs.
Las Vegas Raiders apparently making Jack Bech plan clear during OTAs
After the first day of OTAs that were open to the media, Silver & Black Sports Network's Jesse Merrick gave his impressions. What stood out to Merrick was, without going into too much detail, that Las Vegas appeared to have a clear plan in place for Bech.
"I do want to note that we didn't see Jalen Nailor out there today, and in his place, Jack Bech was really active," Merrick said. "Previous staff didn't seem to have a plan for Jack Bech. I watched one practice (with the new staff), and it is very clear to see that this team, this staff, has a clear plan for Jack Bech, understands what his skill set is. And I think there are brighter things on the horizon for Jack Bech. ... Already, Jack Bech is in a much better place, and I think he's going to be set up to succeed in this offense, and we got little glimpses of that today."
Again, Merrick didn't get into the specifics of that plan for Bech. That is probably a good thing, as the Silver and Black likely don't want this information spread through the media where other teams can scoop it up and use it against them.
That is music to the ears of Raider Nation, though, who so badly wanted Bech to get more chances a year ago. After all, he caught basically everything that came his way, and Bech can run block with the best of them. If Ashton Jeanty can get past that first level this year, Bech can catapult him to score.
Now, Las Vegas isn't going to just hand Bech the job. They signed a veteran free agent this offseason, Jalen Nailor, who has similar inside-outside versatility, even if the two are fairly opposites as players. But a crowded wideout room is a crowded wideout room, and Bech has to earn his spot and snaps.
Nailor and Bech should be able to co-exist, as the former thrives on out-breaking routes and the latter on in-breaking routes. One is more of a speedster and the other a tough, physical technician. Tre Tucker can rip the top off the defense, and Brock Bowers can be the go-to guy. It looks great.
Merrick, on his show, actually spoke with Matt Harmon from Yahoo! Sports, who is a great evaluator of wide receivers. The two broke down what they believe could be Bech's role in Kubiak's offense, and how far off Chip Kelly and the staff were from recognizing this a year ago.
"(Last year, he had) solid success rates against man and zone coverage, like 80% success rate versus zone is really good for a guy that, again, I think needs to be an off-ball 'Z' receiver or a bigger slot option. And his success rates on the dig, the curl route, the slant route, those quicker out patterns were really solid. But you go further down the route tree, there definitely was an inability to separate. And yet, he was a guy that, when he finally did start seeing the field, he was mostly an outside on the ball receiver, which just makes no sense for a player of his skills and his usage."
Harmon then went into some NFL comparisons for how Bech can work alongside another dynamic slot or 'F' option like Bowers.
"You'd probably want to use a Jack Bech like an Amon -Ra St. Brown. You'd probably want to use a Brock Bowers, like a Sam LaPorta," Harmon explained. "If not, maybe skew a little bit more into the true slot stuff with Brock Bowers because he's just so much more dynamic. And (the Detroit Lions) got that done for many, many, many years there."
And of course, Harmon went back to the Kupp comparison for Bech as well, before going deeper into the Bech-Bowers-St. Brown-LaPorta comparison.
"For Bech, I think there's a pretty easy overlap to what we saw last year with Cooper Kupp in his kind of waning years in Kubak's offense. Where Kupp, for the most part, is a short to intermediate threat at this point in his career," Harmon began. "He's probably a guy that does need to be slot-heavy, but he doesn't need to be slot-only. And he's really good in the run game. I think Bech gives a lot of effort in the run game as a pretty good blocker as well. So, I think there's a lot of ways where he can be that kind of 'Z' receiver when we get into two receiver sets. Can be the on-ball player when we get into the slot in these 11 personnel packages, and you can still do that while moving Brock Bowers around. You can stack these guys together. That was, again, where St. Brown and LaPorta were really maximizing that Lions offense when they were aligned right next to each other and can really kind of help each other get these free releases, where, early in St. Brown's career, he needed that. ... I think there's a lot of ways where you can kind of do that while also being a 12 personnel heavy team."
While his exact role won't be revealed to the public, nor will it become clear until the regular season, it is quite clear that there are a myriad of ways to utilize Bech, and the last staff didn't. In the early going, it seems like this staff will.
It won't be difficult for Bech to improve his production from a fairly underwhelming rookie year, as he caught just 20 passes for 242 yards and no touchdowns. But with a better offensive situation and a plan for him, Bech should be able to prove that he wasn't the issue last season.
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