BOURBONNAIS — After nearly two months of sitting out practices and other work with a shin injury, culminating in the Bears placing him on the PUP list to open training camp, the hope now is to have rookie wide receiver Kevin White begin running next Monday.
Practice is still off limits to players on the physically unable to perform list. White has been pestering coaches to let him begin some sort of work but the organization has kept the brake on.
“Next week, we’ll bring him out, he’ll do some light running — you’ll probably see that early next week,” GM Ryan Pace confirmed Thursday on WSCR-AM. “So there’s a plan in place to bring him back at the right pace. We don’t want to rush him.”
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White clearly will do the rushing on his own. Speaking with Hall of Fame wideout Michael Irvin on the sidelines during practice Thursday, White bemoaned the amount of work he’d put in just to be a No. 1 draft choice, then to be drafted by Chicago and not be able to get on the field when training camp started.
“He’s missing things, sure,” Irvin told CSNChicago.com on Thursday. “You can’t say he’s not missing things being out here running full speed and getting a sense of timing. That’s important. Getting a sense of timing, and also getting Jay’s confidence. That’s what he’s missing right now.”
White won’t be alone in doing tightly managed rehab. Defensive end Willie Young, coming back from a season-ending Achilles injury, was not placed on the PUP list, has been in uniform but largely limited to things like sideline running on Thursday pulling a weighted sled for resistance.
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“You can go with PUP with some guys or not,” said coach John Fox. “We make decisions; at least this way, he’s out there, he’s practicing. He can get out there with the team and go through individual. He’s picked up what he’s been doing every day.”
That is the Bears’ hope for White, beginning next week.