Four games over the span of two years. That has been the NFL “career” of Kevin White, chosen seventh overall by the Bears in the 2015 draft. That’s little more than what the Bears got from Juaquin Iglesias, the same as they realized from Jarron Gilbert and less than Evan Rodriguez gave them in those players’ single, eminently forgettable year as Bears.
White did manage to move out to lead the Bears in pass receptions last year before the second of his season-ending leg injuries occurred. Maybe it was a tease, maybe (the Bears hope) a foreshadowing. Either way, White is unequivocal about the significance of 2017 as he and the Bears work through their OTA’s and minicamp leading into the break before training camp:
“It's got to happen now,” White said on Tuesday, a day that saw him participate fully in practice. “I've got to turn it up. You know even in year one, year two, I always want to turn it up and show what I can do.
“So to me, year three, it's time.”
“Time.” That’s the thing with White now.
He is returning under a closely monitored program, which has meant not taking part in every offseason practice. Yet that comes with its own peril, that of not fast-tracking a talented wide receiver who needs playing time to stretch and hone his abilities.
Now White, with franchise-grade natural speed, has the added task of re-learning elements of the act of running itself.
NFL
“You could say that I've just got to train the body again,” White said. “Fixing things, correcting things and just getting back to it. Overall I'm not worried about it, everything takes time but I feel pretty good.”
The Bears were cautious with White and his stress fracture of the 2015 offseason. A surgery in June would have allowed him to be back playing by midseason, but the early decision was to be conservative, turning to surgery only when the injury failed to heal sufficiently on its own.
Now a third offseason has as one of its central questions the development of a player projected to be one of the foundation pillars of the team by this time.
If there is a positive, it is that White considers himself a better receiver now than when he came to the Bears out of West Virginia.
“I think that’s common sense,” White said. “The knowledge I have, coaches I have around me.”
The time White has around those coaches remains the key.