The Las Vegas Raiders decided to bet on the wide receivers they already had on the roster this offseason. Outside of the Jalen Nailor signing and adding Malik Benson in the sixth round of the draft, the team didn’t do much to address the position.
Last year, the Raiders used a second-round pick to select wide receiver Jack Bech. He was a productive player in college at TCU, but could only muster 20 catches as a rookie.
The team’s decision not to make any big wide receiver moves this offseason likely had to do with the hope that Bech can still turn into an impact player. However, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the young wide receiver needs to step up his game.
“I need to see more from Jack Bech,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s “Morning Tailgate.”
“I know that he’s out there. I know he’s out there doing his thing, but the plays aren’t there. The touches aren’t there. And you could say, ‘Well, maybe they’re running plays away from him.’ You got to get open. You got to be available. You got to be somebody that makes himself a nice target. So I need to see more from Jack Bech. I need to see more from Charles Grant. I thought his feet looked a little heavy yesterday. It’s something that I believe he needs to work on.”
Bech Can Still Find Ways to Make An Impact
The Raiders knew Bech wasn’t the biggest or most athletic wide receiver when they selected him. The hope was that he could win with his route-running ability.
While that might still be a work in progress, he should be an above-average run blocker for a wide receiver. He takes pride in his blocking ability.
“We’re going to run the ball a lot. So, us as receivers, we got to be willing to block,” Bech told Raiders.com. “That’s one of my favorite parts about the game, just being able to go down, crack a safety, do the dirty work. So, I’m super excited for the ways that I’ll be able to get to do those things this season. Be able to go down, crack safeties, get my guys run lanes, and break away big plays because we got some special players in the backfield.”
Bech Believes He’s Best in the Slot
Bech isn’t going to beat cornerbacks with his straight-line speed, so he’s going to have to be creative. He believes that being in the slot gives him a better chance to be an effective player.
“I feel like Z and the slot,” Bech said. “I think being able to work the slot, being able to crack safeties, do all the dirty blocking from the slot. Obviously, we’re going to have a lot of motions, a lot of ways to get to see what the defense is doing, get guys in different ways to get guys open, create different mismatches. But I would definitely say the slot and then working to the field, you know, as a Z receiver. Just being able to mismatch a corner, out-physical (them), whatever I can to be able to get open, get the rock, go move the chains for some first downs, get open and help the team any way possible.”
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