Raiders’ Jack Bech ready to return after injury in New Orleans homecoming

That was not the way the return to New Orleans was supposed to go for Las Vegas Raiders receiver Jack Bech.

The second-year pro had a huge gathering of friends and family on hand to watch him play against the Saints last month, just a mile from where his brother had been killed in an act of terror less than two years earlier. They were hoping to start rewriting the story of the city they loved.

But there was no fairy-tale moment for Bech. No touchdown tribute to his brother.

Instead, on the only ball that was thrown his way, Bech was hit late by Saints safety Justin Reid.

The play drew a flag on Reid, but also landed Bech on injured reserve with a broken forearm.

“It definitely sucked,” Bech said of the anticlimactic ending that deprived him of a potential moment he had been dreaming about since the schedule was announced.

He allowed negativity to creep in, but it didn’t take long for him to refocus and look ahead.

Bech had surgery the next day and immediately attacked the rehab process.

The Raiders opened his practice window this week and he could be back as soon as Sunday’s game against the Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey after missing the minimum four games.

“I’m a firm believer in my faith and a firm believer in what God and my brother have planned for not only my life, but everybody around me. My teammates, my family and friends,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “I knew it must have happened for a specific reason. At the time, I didn’t understand why. But I understand now that I was able to maximize the time to work on a bunch of things I had to work on.”

The Raiders will be glad to get him back. Wide receiver production behind Tre Tucker has been essentially nonexistent.

While Bech hasn’t put up big stats during his career, he has at least been a boost to the offense with his ability to not only fight through contact on tough routes, but also be a willing blocker to help out the run game.

“I would start with the energy he brings to our team, his love of the game, his work habits,” coach Klint Kubiak said of what Bech adds to the roster when he’s healthy. “He just has a whole other aura about him when he’s on the field, and his teammates feel it. Coaches feel it. He’s a really solid run blocker; he’s got strong hands. Really happy to have him back out there.”

Bech is just as happy to be back.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “Been putting in a lot of hard work the last few weeks when we haven’t been able to get on the field. Mentally, physically, the trainers have been amazing. The strength staff, the coaches keeping me up to date with the playbook. But just so excited and happy to be back on the field this weekend.”

Bech said the time flew by with all the work he was putting in, but watching his teammates lose four straight games made the process more difficult.

He’s glad to be able to help and appreciative it only took four weeks to be prepared to play again as soon as the team is ready to activate him, though he’s not surprised by the timeline.

“Everybody is playing though something, whatever nook or cranny they’ve got,” he said. “I pride myself on being a tough player and having to get dirty when you have to get dirty.”

He has made an impression at practice already this week.

“He’s getting back into his groove.” offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko said. “He was having some success before but unfortunately, he had the injury. So, we’re just seeing where he’s going to be at in the next couple days, next couple weeks, and really the big thing for him is just getting healthy, feeling healthy, and then coming back and finding his role.”

Bech had five catches and a touchdown in parts of three games played.

Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.