Chicago Bears: Kevin White to get one last chance with Matt Nagy

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has proclaimed that he’ll give oft-injured receiver Kevin White every chance to prove himself. Can he stay on the field long enough convince this new regime to keep him around?

After three years of sporadic play and near-constant injury, Chicago Bears fans probably aren’t expecting much from former 2015 seventh-overall pick Kevin White.

Every time fans have gotten a glimpse of what he can do, that brief glint of hope disappears in a flash with another season-ending setback.

He never touched the field in 2015 due to a stress fracture in his left shin. During a comeback in 2016 that saw him finally starting to make an impact, he broke the same leg following an awkward tackle against the Detroit Lions. And last season, one shot from behind in Week 1 against Atlanta broke his shoulder blade.

Hardly an auspicious start to his NFL career.

As such, you could hardly blame new Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy for not expecting a whole lot from Kevin White in 2018. And with a revamped receiver group, White might fall down the depth chart to the point where his (possibly) final season in Chicago ends with barely a whimper.

That said, Nagy put out some interesting comments regarding White’s standing with the team. In particular, Nagy’s not willing to give up on the wide receiver just yet.

Of course, you could read that as “of course he’s going to say that…he knows better than to have faith in White.” And yes, it sounds as if Nagy is hedging his bets with this situation, specifically stating that he won’t make any promises about returning White to form.

Still, he and the Chicago Bears know that White will likely be here at least until this season is over. They could cut him, but they’ll need to eat a fully guaranteed $5.27 million to do it. Unless he’s just completely awful, what’s the point? You have to pay him anyway.

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And White’s potential and commitment to rediscovering it through injury has probably made a solid impression on his new coaches. And though he might not be that star he was coming out of college three years ago, he could still be useful if healthy.

Who knows? Maybe a new training staff can help White actually stay on the field this season. After all, White wasn’t the only one who struggled to stay off I.R. the last couple of years under John Fox’s archaic staff.

The most likely scenario, of course, is still that 2018 is White’s last year with the Chicago Bears. And there’s even that outside chance that he doesn’t survive training camp this year.

Next: Profile, interview of draft target WR Vyncint Smith

But Nagy is withholding judgment until White takes the field. Why not see if he can, as he said, help the still-young receiver return to being a dominant player again?

Crazier things have happened.