Bears receiver White eager to contribute; QB Sanchez hurt
After playing in just four games since being drafted seventh overall in 2015, wide receiver Kevin White feels a sense of urgency.
"It's got to happen now," White said. "I've got to turn it up. In Year One, Year Two, I always wanted to turn it up and show what I can do. So to me, Year Three, it's time."
Shin-splint surgery on his right leg kept White out in 2015 and a high-ankle sprain and fractured left fibula ended his 2016 NFL season after four games. The 6-foot-3, 216-pound White had sub-4.4 speed coming out of West Virginia, and he says he's comfortable doing anything on the practice field, but the Bears are taking a cautious approach.
White is already (and prematurely) being called a bust. He says that talk doesn't motivate him as he tries to tune out the static and focus on his work.
"If you say I won't be able to score a touchdown or get 100 yards in a game, that's not going to affect how I play," he said. "I just know I've got to turn it up and do what I've got to do. You guys can write it up, and everybody's got their opinion. So I'll just leave it at that."
Great again?
Wide receiver Victor Cruz, a Pro Bowl pick in 2012 with the New York Giants, brings a veteran presence to a Bears position that is riddled with question marks.
One of them is how close Cruz is to the form he flashed in 2011 and 2012 (168 receptions, 2,628 yards, 19 touchdowns). Injuries severely reduced his production in 2014 and 2015 before a slight bounce back last year with 39 catches for 586 yards.
"Hopefully I'm very close," he said after Tuesday's OTA practice. "It's just about getting my bearings. The more routes I run, the more I build a rapport with (quarterback) Mike (Glennon) and get myself out there learning the plays and learning everything that needs to be learned. I think I have that potential to be that guy you saw a few years ago. We'll see how it goes."
Entering his eighth season, Cruz could be a mentor for younger players.
"That was part of it; I understood that coming in," the 6-foot, 204-pound Cruz said. "I think it's natural for me, and I'm excited to help these young guys get better."
Musical quarterbacks:
It was an eventful day for Bears quarterbacks thanks to a left knee injury suffered by ninth-year veteran Mark Sanchez late in Tuesday's OTA practice at Halas Hall.
Sanchez will be unavailable through the final two weeks of OTAs and the June 13-15 full-team minicamp but is expected back for the start of training camp July 26.
Before practice, the Bears waived backup quarterback Connor Shaw, then a few hours later rescinded that waiver request because of the Sanchez injury. Receiver Jhajuan Seales was waived instead.
Shaw is the only one of four quarterbacks on the 90-man roster who has been in the system for as much as three months. He was signed last July after the Cleveland Browns waived him, but he missed the entire 2016 regular season after suffering a fractured right leg in the preseason.
Shaw was a three-year starter at South Carolina and originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Browns in 2014 and started one game that season, his only regular-season experience.
Of the remaining QBs, Mike Glennon was signed as an unrestricted free agent March 10, and Sanchez was added two weeks later. Rookie Mitch Trubisky was drafted second overall on April 27.
• Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere.