The Las Vegas Raiders made the right choice drafting wide receiver Jack Bech in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Now, we haven't seen him play any football in the NFL yet, but based on what we know about his mentality, it feels like that statement is right.
There were some other wide receivers available when the Raiders went on the clock to select Bech, guys like Kyle Williams, Isaac TeSlaa, Pat Bryant, and even Jaylin Noel were available long after Bech was taken. And, you could even make a case that the Raiders could have drafted Luther Burden, as they traded out of the beginning of the second round with the Miami Dolphins, two picks ahead of where the Chicago Bears selected Burden.
They believe in Bech that much. And, based on everything we have heard from the kid, without even seeing him play in the league yet, he is the right fit. Bech already has the right mindset when it comes to studying tape that not every rookie wide receiver has.
"I definitely like breaking down the guys like Puka [Nacua] just how he uses his body to get open. He doesn't dance around a whole lot, he attacks the leverage of the body, maybe give him a one-two or something like that. But he uses big, physical presence, his physical ability to get open," Bech told reporters during rookie minicamp.
"And the different guys like [Cooper] Kupp, just the way he understands the game, the nuance of the game, which is something I'm always going to strive to get better at each and every day for my whole career. Then just different guys who run routes, some of the best route runners in the league, people like Amari Cooper and Justin Jefferson. And Coach Chris Beatty does a great job about that, showing you a bunch of people's games. So, you can kind of just pick from people and take what you like, kind of just mimic their game a little bit."
Bech knows there is no point in watching the guys in the NFL who are route runners based on their effectiveness to juke and "dance," as he said, around the field. That's not the type of player he is, so why would he watch and learn from the guys who do that? That's something that, believe it or not, a lot of rookie wide receivers would have trouble with when it comes to watching tape.
I mean, some of these rookie wide receivers won't watch tape at all, even one of them was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the first round, based on what he said in college. So the fact that he grinds tape anyway is a good way to see what he is. But the fact that he's doing it the right way with some of the best technical guys in the league says that he can be a very good player in the league.
They made the right decision.
