Kevin White Will Not Play for Chicago Bears This Season
It’s officially a lost season.
No, not for the Chicago Bears. The Bears sit with a 5-7 record, but there aren’t many people who are disappointed with what this team has accomplished this year based off the train wreck that was 2014. However it is a lost season for the Bears’ first round pick, Kevin White.
According to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears’ brass have decided to keep the rookie wide receiver out of games for the rest of the season. When the Bears conclude practice today, that will signify the end of White’s practice window and he will be shut down for the season.
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White has progressed well from the stress fracture he suffered over the summer and the Bears are clearly happy with the progress he’s made, but the team has decided it’s not worth the risk to put him in live action on a Sunday, and it’s clearly the right decision.
There was hope that White would be cleared and suit up for some games this year, in fact, some reports had White potentially playing this Sunday against the Washington Redskins.
Per source, #Bears WR Kevin White has a chance to make his season debut this Sunday.
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) December 10, 2015
While it would have been great to see White on the field, it’s just simply not worth risking any further injury. As Wiederer notes in his article, while White’s practice window closes today, in theory, if the Bears wanted to continue to have him practice for the remainder of the year, they could activate him on the 53-man roster. That doesn’t mean he would play on Sunday, he would be announced as inactive each Sunday, but it would allow him to practice for the final four weeks of the season. The problem with that plan is that the Bears are so decimated with injuries on the receiver front that they can’t afford to activate an injured receiver just to have him practice. This team still has playoff aspirations, even if it’s a long shot.
While White’s injury has certainly been a disappointment, Bears fans can take delight in one aspect of things- in 2016 the Bears will have two Ryan Pace first round picks making their debut, and that certainly is not a bad thing.