Raiders rookie Jack Bech draws comparison to elite wide receiver

   

The Las Vegas Raiders made a lot of changes this offseason, including overhauling their front office and coaching staff, and they're hoping that these moves lead to a much better finish than the 5-12 record they put up in 2024.

One area Las Vegas is looking to improve is their passing attack, which ranked 13th last year with Gardner Minshew II, Aidan O'Connell and Desmond Ridder averaging 223.4 yards per contest.

The Raiders acquiring quarterback Geno Smith in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks was the first step in this process, but they didn't do much in free agency to surround Smith with weapons. In fact, they lost more veteran wide receivers (Terrace Marshall Jr., D.J. Turner, Jeff Foreman and Ramel Keyton) than they added (Collin Johnson).

However, Las Vegas targeted the position in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft, taking TCU's Jack Bech, who is already having some lofty expectations thrown on him by NFL analysts such as Greg Cosell.

“I came away watching this kid, thinking that there were similarities to Puka Nacua, stylistically, ” Cosell said on the "Ross Tucker Football Podcast" recently. "People have to remember, it's easy now to say 'Oh, you're not Puka Nacua.' But, you know, Nacua was a fifth-round pick. Again, it's the way he's deployed in the Rams' offense. They don't ask Nacua to line up at boundary X and win one-on-one on the outside. They don't ask him to do that. That's not what he is. I thought Bech was somewhat similar stylistically to Nacua when I finished watching his tape."

 

Bech, 22, began his collegiate career at LSU, where he caught 59 passes for 689 yards and four touchdowns in 25 games over two seasons. He transferred to TCU in 2023, and over the last two years, he's appeared in 20 games, catching 74 passes for 1,180 yards and nine scores.

At this point in the offseason, Bech is probably Las Vegas' second-best receiver behind Jakobi Meyers. He'll likely slot in behind Meyers but in front of Johnson, Kristian Wilkerson, Tyreik McAllister, Alex Bachman and Shedrick Jackson as well as fellow rookies Dont'e Thornton Jr., Tommy Mellott and Zakhari Franklin.

Cosell's point about Nacua is a fair one. While Nacua was an All-Pro as a rookie, his numbers weren't much different than Bech's in Nacua's two years at BYU (91 receptions for 1,430 yards and 11 touchdowns in 21 games).

If Bech has that kind of breakout potential as a rookie, the Raiders could surprise some people and break out of the basement in the AFC West and maybe even compete for a wild-card spot.