Return of No. 1 pick Kevin White a focal point as Bears begin OTA's

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It was sometime around a year ago that Kevin White’s season started coming off the rails as the rookie wide receiver began experiencing pain in his left leg that ultimately turned out to be a season-ending stress fracture. This week White and the Bears will reset with the startup of organized team activities (OTA’s) that run a handful of days per week, culminating in a mid-June mandatory minicamp before the Bears break until the July 27 opening of training camp in Bourbonnais.

Fewer storylines around the Bears to this point carry the individual significance as that of White, the team’s No. 1 draft choice last year with the intent of his becoming a linchpin of the offense for quite a few years.

Insiders said that White, in the closed portions of practice late last season prior to his being placed on IR, displayed jaw-dropping speed and burst, to the point of Jay Cutler joking that he couldn’t overthrow the kid. The decision to leave White shut down for the balance of the season had more to do with the Bears’ 5-8 record than health concerns; had the Bears beaten San Francisco and Washington and were within reach of the playoffs, White likely is put on the roster with an eye toward the postseason.

But none of that really matters in hindsight. What does matter is what White now does in an offense headed by a new coordinator (Dowell Loggains) and with presumed fellow receivers Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal, each of whom had their own 2015 lost playing time due to health issues.

“It’s hard,” Loggains said during rookie minicamp earlier this month of any early impressions of White. “But I can tell you about his character, and he’s everything that we expected.

“He’s a hard worker. His attitude is contagious because he is very positive; he doesn’t have bad days. I think that between him and Eddie and some of the other receivers, they’re bringing out the best of each other, and competition does that. We feel good about the receiver room. It’s a deep room and they’re making each other better.”

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