One of the many players the Las Vegas Raiders hope takes a big step forward this season is second-year wide receiver Jack Bech.
He was a second-round pick last year. However, the TCU product, was slow to progress as a rookie and ended up not having much of an impact in 2025. He had just 20 catches for 224 yards as a rookie. He had just seven games with no receptions.
So, the team wants to see legitimate progress made for an offense that needs young wide receivers to step up.
Bech is a key player because
of the draft capital investment the team made in him. So, the expectation is he needs to show immediate progress in the system of new coach Klint Kubiak.
However, there are some rumblings that Bech may not exactly be a great fit for Kubiak’s system, so there are no guarantees he will quickly improve in 2026.
So, what if the worst-case scenario unfolds and Bech doens’t improve and he isn’t ready to take on a bigger role in 2026? Well, it certainly would hurt the Raiders now and in the future.
The team also has fellow 2025 draft pick, Dont’e Thornton. However, the 4th round pick failed to live up to the preseason hype last season and he too may be considered a tough fit for Kubiak’s offense.
There is new hype in sixth-round ick Malik Benson and he could get some playing time, but he is a different player than Bech, so even if he develops the Raiders would be missing something that needed for Bech.
So, yes, the pressure is on all involved (including general manager John Spytek who drafted Bech) to ensure that he develops in 2026.
