As injury history gets longer, Bears WR White's answers get shorter

You can't blame Bears wide receiver Kevin White if his answers to the same questions he's been asked for three years have become more succinct with each asking.

It's not White's fault that two different left-leg fractures and a fractured left shoulder blade have limited him to five games in three seasons. No one works harder at maintaining strength and conditioning than the 6-foot-3, 216-pounder, who has a chiseled physique and, according to coaches, still has the speed and athleticism that made him the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft.

But his draft status and potential means he's still of major interest to fans and reporters alike, even though he's caught a career total of 21 passes for 193 yards (9.2-yard average) and has yet to reach the end zone in the NFL.

As the Bears reached the halfway point of their organized team activities last week at Halas Hall, White was asked about his injuries for the umpteenth time, comparing his latest upper-body injury to the previous two lower-body maladies.

"It's a lot easier to come back," White said. "I don't have to learn how to run, walk and jump again."

So there's that. White likely is playing his last season with the Bears, who earlier in the offseason declined to pick up his fifth-year option for 2019.

"I'm motivated every single day with or without the option," he said.

Coach Matt Nagy has said White will start with a clean slate with the new offensive staff. The speedy wide receiver said he isn't sure how much new coaches believe in him, but he hasn't lost faith in his own abilities.

"I don't know, (but it) really don't bother me at all," White said. "I believe in myself."

Still, the Bears wouldn't have signed receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel in free agency if they were confident White could stay on the field and make an impact.

White had this take on the signings: "It's great. Whatever it takes for the team to get some wins."

Mike Furrey is the fourth position coach White has worked with in as many years, but he said it doesn't change his outlook or his mission.

"It doesn't matter," White said. "Roll with the punches. Come in here and do my job every day. They all have their different ways of teaching. But it's been great."

If nothing else, White has had a career's worth of learning how to roll with the punches, so he was asked what the adversity has taught him about himself.

"Built Ford Tough," he said, keeping it brief, as has become his style.

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.