Packers Take Edge, Receiver in Mel Kiper’s New NFL Mock Draft

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sacking the quarterback wasn’t a problem for the Green Bay Packers last season. Getting to the quarterback, on the other hand, was a considerable issue – one addressed in Mel Kiper’s new two-round mock draft at ESPN.

At No. 23 of the first round, the Packers selected Georgia edge defender Mykel Williams.

According to SportRadar, the Packers were 16th in pressure percentage last season. According to ESPN Stats & Info, they were 22nd.

Enter Williams, who played through a high-ankle sprain last season to record five sacks.

“He has the explosive traits to be an extremely effective edge rusher,” Kiper wrote.

Cornerback and receiver are other needs, and Kiper hit on those as first-round options.

In the second round, the Packers found that receiver with TCU’s Jack Bech, who was one of the stars of Senior Bowl week and was MVP of the game.

Bech caught 43 passes at LSU in 2021 but just 16 in 2022. He transferred to TCU for his final two seasons. In 2024, he caught 62 passes for 1,034 yards (16.9 average) and nine touchdowns.

Bech measured 6-foot-1 1/4 and 214 pounds at the Scouting Combine. While he didn’t run a 40, his excellent results in the bench press, broad jump and three-cone drill gave him a Relative Athletic Score of 9.50.

While speed is not exactly a strength, he used his route-running ability and hands to catch 9-of-19 passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

“The Packers' offense likes to distribute the ball to multiple pass catchers, with three wideouts – Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed – seeing at least 70 targets,” Kiper explained. “Bech would be another reliable playmaker in the mix.”

All three of those players dropped too many passes last season, with Wicks having the second-worst drop percentage last season and Reed the third-worst. Bech caught 132 passes in four seasons with only seven drops, according to Sports Info Solutions, including three last season.

“I feel like route running and catching the ball” are the strengths to his game, he said at the Scouting Combine. “I feel like I have the best hands in this draft class. That comes with just a lot of hard work after practice, trying to catch the most JUGS, not only on the team but out of anybody in the country, day in and day out. There wasn't a practice that I skipped, where I wasn't out there catching extra JUGS balls. That's just where my confidence comes from.”

With strength and physicality, he should be an asset in the run game – a big key in Matt LaFleur’s offense.

“I think that's just dawg mentality,” Bech said. “You just want to go out there and dominate every aspect of the game, no matter if that's running routes, catching balls, if that's run blocking, putting somebody into the sideline, that's just that dawg mentality that I have.”

Bech’s older brother, Tiger, a former player at Princeton was killed in the New Orleans attack on New Year’s Day.

Bech credited his brother for his mentality.

“Having an older brother, he was like six years older than me, just always having him around, his friends around, and always wanting to be with them,” Bech said. “Even though I was a lot younger, they were all grown up.

“A 16-year-old is a lot different than a 10-year-old, 15-year-old to a 21-year-old. I was learning as I was growing up, if I wanted to be with the big boys, I had to act like one. Whether that was me getting beat up by them, I would take it. It just made me the way I am today, just strong, tough and physical.” 

Bech was the sixth receiver off the board, with Texas’ Matthew Golden and Arizona’s Tet McMillan taken before Green Bay was up in the first round and Emeka Egbuka, Luther Burden and Jayden Higgins selected before it was on the clock in the second round.