Bears rookie WR Kevin White does some light work at practice

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Lost among the myriad injuries that have afflicted the Bears, particularly at the wide-receiver spot, was perhaps the most devastating of all: the stress fracture to the left shin of rookie wideout Kevin White, which ended his season before it ever got close to starting.

White, the No. 7 pick of this year’s draft and expected to be a centerpiece in the offense of coordinator Adam Gase, appeared at Bears practice on Thursday just doing some light running and catching casual tosses from a member of the Bears’ medical staff. Because of the injury, which occurred sometime during June workouts with the team, White was placed on the physically unable to perform list to open training camp and given the “reserve/physically unable to perform” designation during Aug. 30 roster cutdowns before the start of the season.

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“They are continuing to rehab,” Bears head coach John Fox said. “The training staff, they’ve been doing a lot of indoor work. Now he’s progressing to where he can get on the grass a little bit. He’s not been activated. He’s still reserve PUP.”

The designation indicated that the Bears in fact held onto the prospect of White returning this season from surgery in late August to insert a pin into the bone in his left shin. One scenario is that the Bears will be able to bring White back at some point in the season but it will be dependent in part on whether the season is unfolding such that he will be a meaningful addition to a meaningful season.

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White would be eligible to resume practicing after the sixth regular-season weekend on through the 11th regular-season weekend (Nov. 23). The Bears would have three weeks from when White resumes practicing to decide on whether to move him onto the active roster.

As far as White returning, “I’m kind of vague, not optimistic, not pessimistic, just one day at a time,” Fox said. “I know he’s made good progress and we’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it.”

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