Shin injury sidelines Chicago Bears first-round pick White
BOURBONNAIS - The mystery over first-round pick Kevin White's absence from last month's minicamp was cleared up when GM Ryan Pace said the rookie wide receiver would open training camp on the physically unable to perform list because of a shin injury.
The 6-foot-3, 217-pound big-play weapon was the seventh overall pick in the draft after catching 109 passes for 1,447 yards and 10 touchdowns for West Virginia in 2014. He was injured during one of the later organized team activities that preceded June's the final minicamp.
"Kevin has a shin injury that we told him to stay off of the last month," Pace said. "He's been inactive (so) we want to kind of have a ramp-up phase in regards to his cardio. We're going to start him off on PUP to kind of build his cardiovascular endurance."
Quarterback David Fales, the Bears' sixth-round pick in 2014, also begins camp on the PUP list.
"(He) has an illness," Pace said. "Nothing major. We just want to be smart with that and patient with him."
On the mend:
Three injured 2014 starters, Lamarr Houston, Willie Young and Jon Bostic, have all been medically cleared and are expected at Thursday's first practice, but they will all be brought along slowly.
Houston and Young combined to start 15 games last season at left end. Houston started the first eight before suffering a torn ACVL while celebrating his only sack. Young took over and put together a breakout season with a career-best 10 sacks but suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Game 15. Both players will be linebackers in the new base 3-4 defense but could also play on the D-line in nickel situations.
Bostic got starts at each of the three linebacker spots last season - eight in all - but he missed most of the off-season with a back injury.
"It's just going to be a progressive stage with our coaches," GM Ryan Pace said of the still-rehabbing trio. It might not be full-fledged, 100 percent of practice. It could be some individual, a couple of periods and just be smart with it; build them up with their football activities."
Strap it up:
After Thursday and Friday practices in shorts and helmets, the first practice in pads is scheduled for Saturday, and coach John Fox is looking forward to it.
"Once you put (the pads) on, I've always been a firm believer that this league is about blocking and tackling," Fox said. "You're not going to be very good on offense if you can't block. You're not going to be very good on defense if you can't tackle. And that's all padded type of skill sets.
"How we develop our skills is going to determine how we play on Sundays. The padded version of that, the toughness, the mental toughness and the mindset it takes to be that tough, aggressive type of football player, you have to practice in that uniform."
That was quick:
Guard Chad Hamilton has informed the Bears that he will be retiring from football. The 6-foot-2, 292-pound Hamilton was an undrafted rookie from Coastal Carolina.