This is not the start the Chicago Bears were looking for during this week’s Organized Team Activities:
#Bears WR Kevin White did not participate in OTAs today. John Fox said he didn't know if he would take part in OTAs. But no new injuries.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) May 23, 2017
Kevin White has had an injury-riddled career, and his absence in today’s OTAs – after quarterback Mike Glennon said he liked what he saw (per Adam Hoge’s Twitter) from the team’s 2015 first-round draft pick – is a bit ominous.
Over at CBS Chicago, Chris Emma reports that head coach John Fox was “mum” on White’s situation, deflecting by saying: “We’re just trying to make sure we get guys ready for camp. Even more precise for Game 1 against Atlanta. So we’re doing to do everything necessary to make sure we get that done.”
That is quite a response to a question regarding a player’s absence in OTAs in May, especially with a player whose injury history is as decorated as White’s has been since being selected by the Bears with the seventh pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
White has played in only four NFL games in his career, missing his entire rookie season with a stress fracture in his left leg. He returned healthy for his second season and started four games before another injury – a fractured fibula in the same leg – put him on season-ending injured reserve.
For what it’s worth, White had not shown any lingering effects of having two injuries in the same leg in earlier phases of the Bears’ offseason training programs. However, concern about a projected starter’s injury might not be unavoidable if White is sidelined for a long period of time without further explanation.