Kevin White's Season Officially Over
CB Kyle Fuller has returned to practice this week which means Kevin White’s season is officially over.
In what should be no surprise to anyone, Kevin White will not see the football field again this season for the Chicago Bears. Kyle Fuller returned to practice this week and looks to be activated soon. That move means White’s season is over.
Each team can designate one player from their Injured Reserve to return in the same season. Kyle Fuller was placed on IR on September 27 and hasn’t played at all this season. With his return to practice, the Bears are getting him ready to play in games, and thus, obviously, he becomes the player the Bears designate to return from IR.
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Officially, that means Kevin White has concluded his second season with only four games played. In White’s short career, he has already missed 28 games. By comparison, Jerry Rice missed 14 games total in his 20-year career. Terrell Owens missed 21. Marvin Harrison missed 18. Randy Moss missed six. You get the point.
White’s injuries leave the Bears in a difficult situation heading into 2017. The Bears needed to know if White was going to be ready to become a WR1 with Alshon Jeffery coming off the franchise tag. Now, with White’s injury, Jeffery’s suspension, and plenty of other question marks around the receiving corps, it’s going to be very difficult for Ryan Pace to decide what he should do with Jeffery next season.
If he lets Jeffery walk and White continues to struggle with injuries, the Bears could have potentially the worst collection of WRs in the NFL. However, if the Bears commit dollars to Jeffery and he continues to have trouble with injuries, it could put the Bears in a tough situation with the salary cap.
This is just one of several significant decisions that Pace needs to make when putting together next season’s roster. There is no question that White will be a part of the 2017 Bears, but where the development of his skills are due to injury or if he is going to continue to have injury trouble next season is almost impossible to answer.
Disappointing is an understatement when referring to the start of White’s promising career, but you can’t even blame White, Pace, or the Bears organization. It just seems to be one unfortunate incident after another.
Hopefully White’s 2017 is the first of many successful campaigns for him in a Chicago Bears’ uniform. But after missing 28 of his first 32 games, it doesn’t seem Bears fans are expecting much out of Pace’s first-ever draft choice. White will be out to prove all his doubters wrong in 2017. Step one will be staying on the football field.
Bill Zimmerman is an editor and featured writer for FanSided‘s BearGogglesOn. Like his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter for more news and interaction.
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