Chicago Bears: Don’t freak out about Kevin White’s injury status just yet

While Kevin White missing the Chicago Bears’ OTAs on Tuesday isn’t ideal, Bears fans don’t need to panic. Yet.

Summertime in the Windy City just wouldn’t be right without some Chicago Bears injury angst. After reportedly practicing during Monday’s OTA session—and impressing new quarterback Mike Glennon—Kevin White sat out Tuesday’s workout for undisclosed reasons. Right on queue, a firestorm of Bears fan consternation and “bust” chants welled up, as their hopes of White staying healthy spontaneously combusted.

Might freaking out about one missed OTA in May, even accounting for previous injuries, be going a bit too far?

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The Negative

Now, knowing how the Bears handled White’s injury his rookie season, I understand exactly why alarms are going off in people’s heads right now. For one, given that White never saw the field in 2015 and only played four games last year due to leg injuries, any potential hiccup in his recovery looks bad.

Also, fans can’t truly trust the word of their head coach, John Fox. After all, Fox proclaimed White “day-to-day” for almost six months before the Bears finally put him on IR in 2015. Let’s also not forget the mishandling of Kyle Fuller, who had an eventually season-ending knee injury, throughout last year’s preseason. Whenever Fox downplays a player’s injuries, it’s hard not to expect that player won’t end up on I.R. at this point.

The Unknown

Furthermore, when asked about White’s status after Tuesday’s no-show, Fox showed that his evasive maneuvering abilities were in mid-season form. Per WGN’s Adam Hoge:

"“I can’t control what people think or feel, just that he was injured last year, he came off surgery and we’ve got about six or seven others of those,” Fox said. “It’s really the same as everybody else.”"

Actually, no it isn’t, especially since he’s coming off his second leg surgery since coming to Chicago. Also, none of those other players were the 2015 seventh-overall pick. But I digress.

The only comfort (?) Fox offered fans was that White wasn’t suffering from any new injuries. Did he care to offer anything more specific than that? Um, no.

So, at this point, all we know is that White doesn’t have a broken arm or something. Thanks, coach. Meanwhile, we don’t know if he’s feeling any discomfort in either one of his surgically repaired legs. We also don’t know if, perhaps the Bears are just being cautious with him given his injuries and aiming to preserve him for training camp.

That’s my unconfirmed hope, though White could certainly still use some reps given his inexperience. But if that’s the case, why wouldn’t Fox just say that?

Yes, that’s clearly asking too much of him. And discussing injuries with reporters will take away whatever unforeseen competitive advantage in November Fox is angling for. But imagine, just for a moment, a world in which Bears fans had some idea of what’s going on with one of their hopeful star players. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

The Positive

Still, let’s not go down the “Kevin White will never play and is already a bust” rabbit hole just yet. Sure, him sitting out of practice, even in OTAs, isn’t a great look considering his injury issues in Chicago. And knowing nothing about the situation makes things appear even worse. But it’s one OTA in May.

Ultimately, regardless of how past scenarios have played out, fans can’t draw any conclusions from this time. How players perform in OTAs doesn’t really matter. Whether someone is sitting out or recovering from injury during OTAs doesn’t really matter either. If White’s not on the field for mandatory minicamp (June 13-15), that will be a bit more worrisome. And if he’s not 100% in training camp, that’s a very real problem.

Next: Kevin White misses Tuesday's OTA session for Chicago Bears

For now, though, there’s hope that this was just the Bears bringing White along slowly in hopes of keeping him on his feet. Whatever the reason for holding him out Tuesday, though, the Chicago Bears officially put Kevin White back in the spotlight. Hopefully, in a few months, Bears fans will be talking about him for better reasons.