Matthew Stafford buzz takes over NFL combine as QB’s future uncertain
USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon tells us what he’s hearing at the NFL combine regarding the future of Rams QB Matthew Stafford.
Sports Pulse
INDIANAPOLIS – The “Tiger Winks” are everywhere. That’s what Jack Bech calls the natural reminders of his younger brother, Tiger Bech, he finds in the world.
“I call it a ‘Tiger Wink,’” Jack Bech said Friday morning at the NFL combine, “just coming down from my brother.”
Like his older brother, Martin “Tiger” Bech was also a college wide receiver. Jack Bech played for their home state Louisiana State Tigers and transferred for his last two seasons at Texas Christian. Tiger played at Princeton and was one of the 14 people killed in the New Orleans’ terror attack in the early hours of Jan. 1.
“(I) just know my brother’s got me,” Bech said. “I’m huge in my faith. I always keep God first, no matter the circumstance, no matter what’s going on. I believe that He makes no mistakes and there are no coincidences in his realm, no matter what’s going on. I feel like my brother, I know his wings are going to be on me from now until the end of time. It’s pushed me to new heights.”
Employing a commendable work ethic and doing things most aren’t willing to do has always been important to Bech.
“I feel like I’ve taken a whole new step in doing that, and I know that, he’ll be with me, like I said,” explained Bech, whose last name rhymes with “mesh.” “He’ll have the best seat in the house from here on out.”
Hardly four weeks removed from Tiger’s death, Bech was in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl. Bech wore the No. 7 that week and Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy (now the general manager of the Oklahoma Sooners) coordinated “7” decals for each player’s helmet.
Bech was the game’s MVP; he had six receptions for 68 yards and caught the game-winning touchdown with seven seconds left. He dropped to a knee once he secured the ball and all of his teammates surrounded him in a touching moment of support.
“All of the love and support I got from not only my teammates, but also on the (other) team, it was a super special moment and a moment that I’ll never forget,” Bech said from – another “Tiger Wink” – podium No. 7.
Sometimes Bech sees Tiger’s name written in the clouds. Sometimes those clouds form what looks like angel wings in the sky, and he knows that it’s for him.
Bech has another brother who is six years older than him. He always wanted to be around him and his friends and that taught him how to grow up and helped him develop a toughness with which he plays football – Bech isn’t afraid to block in the run game or take a hit over the middle while rising up to haul in a pass. “
“If I wanted to be with the big boys, I had to act like one – whether that was me getting beat up by him or something, it just made me the way I am today,” Bech said.
Bech was a standout at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette, Indiana and was rated a four-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals. He made an immediate impact as a true freshman in 2021 by catching a team-high 43 passes for 489 yards and three touchdowns. But the next season saw him take on more of a backup role and he entered the transfer portal.
In the 6-foot-2 wideout’s first season at TCU, Bech missed a handful of games due to injury. The best was ahead, though. Bech became the fifth player in TCU history to record a 1,000-yard receiving season (1,034) with nine touchdown grabs (62 catches total) and was named second-team All-Big 12.
“I feel like I have the best hands in this draft class,” Bech said. “But that comes with just a lot of hard work.”
After practice, his goal was to catch the most balls from the JUGS machine not only on his team but in the entire country. The number of reps he took off the machine could be as low as 150 or high as 300.“There wasn’t a practice that I skipped, that I wasn’t out there catching JUGS balls,” he said. “That’s just where my confidence comes from.”
The Los Angeles Rams wideout tandem of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp serve as inspiration to his game, especially the way they run routes and receive the football. He appreciates how the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase racks up the YAC (yards after catch). And he surely respects the way George Pickens of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks on the outside.
“I’m always going balls to the wall,” Bech said. “Because I have respect not only for myself but my teammates, everyone around me who have helped me get this far. I owe it to them.”
