BOURBONNAIS, ILL. – As it turns out, Chicago Bears rookie Kevin White won't be ready for the regular season as the team had previously hoped. In fact, White may not see the field in 2015 whatsoever.
In a bombshell dropped before the start of Saturday's training camp practice at Olivet Nazarene University, Bears GM Ryan Pace revealed for the first time that the receiver has a stress fracture in his left shin and that a setback in White's recuperation from that injury will now force the receiver into surgery.
While Pace said the exact date of the procedure has yet to be determined, he did confirm that White will have a rod inserted into his left leg to stabilize his tibia. Whether White will rehabilitate from that surgery fast enough to play late in 2015 remains to be seen. But Pace was clear Saturday that the organization would take the long view in its big decisions moving forward on White's health.
"Our whole focus is his long-term health," Pace said. "I know he's going to be a great player for the Chicago Bears. I want to make sure that we protect him."
For a rookie drafted with the No. 7 overall pick in this spring's draft and a new Bears regime hoping White can become a cornerstone of their rebuilding project, Saturday's news was a forceful gut punch.
The Bears, Pace said, learned of White's stress fracture during organized team activities in June and immediately shut the receiver down, hopeful the injury would heal on its own. White arrived at training camp last month with little pain in his shin and the Bears proceeded with a cautious program to ease him back into action.
The team had insisted that White's absence from the practice field was solely to enhance his strength and cardiovascular fitness as his shin healed. And White did chunks of his early training camp rehabilitation by running in a swimming pool and using an elliptical machine.
Last week, the Bears cleared White to begin doing some light running and on-field agility work. And that, Pace said, is when pain returned to the receiver's shin and the major setback occurred.
