ORLANDO, Fla. _ As the Bears monitor the possibility that another team signs restricted free agent wide receiver Cameron Meredith to an offer sheet, new coach Matt Nagy says he's also excited to get to work with former first-round draft pick Kevin White.
The club has been aggressive in overhauling the wide receiver position since the start of free agency, signing Allen Robinson as a new No. 1 option, something White was drafted to be back in 2015, and adding speedy Taylor Gabriel, who figures to play both outside and in the slot at what Nagy calls the "zebra" position in his offense.
But White, who was lost for the season in the opener last September with a fractured scapula, isn't a forgotten man even if the team is making roster moves as if it knows he cannot be counted on.
"I know that this is a kid, just from the outside, this is a kid that had a lot of expectations put on him by being a first-round draft pick," Nagy said Tuesday at the owners meeting. "To anybody out there and to himself, has he lived up to what the first-round draft pick is supposed (to be)? No, he hasn't. But that's OK though. He's young.
"For me, I really, truly mean this when I say it: I am really excited to dig deep into him and put him in the best situation possible for Kevin White to succeed. Here is a guy we have on our roster that to a lot of people can get lost in the shuffle or just pushed to the side. ... How cool would that be to be able to get this kid to come back and be a dominant player, right? You think he doesn't want that? No, of course he wants that."
White has appeared in only five of 48 games since he was drafted and he missed his entire rookie season following surgery to repair a stress fracture in his leg. Another broken leg cut short his 2016 season after four games and then he was injured to open last season.
Like his teammates, White will have to learn the new scheme and prove that he's become better as a route runner. Nagy believes confidence is involved too for a player that has missed so much time.
"He's a guy that can take the top (off the defense)," Nagy said. "He's a big guy. That's why he was drafted in the first round. For him right now, it's just going to be a confidence thing, being able to get his confidence back. If we can figure out a way to get his confidence back, he has all the physical tools and again you hire people to be able to be teachers and to be able to help guys excel.
"Mike Furrey our wide receiver coach played the position. Mike is a very positive guy. He's gonna be able to, well I know this, he is going to give everything he can to make guys like Kevin White better. I am really, really intrigued to see how that process goes."
The Bears will have to make a decision on White's future soon. They have until the first week of May to decide whether or not to pick up the fifth-year option in his contract for 2019. It's expected the Bears will decline that option based on White's track record. That doesn't write him off for this season though and cornerback Kyle Fuller is a prime example of a former first-round pick that can make big things happen when his option year has been declined.
Nagy, Furrey and the rest of the staff get their first chance to work with White beginning April 3 when the voluntary offseason program kicks off.
