To say that WR Kevin White underwhelmed in his four seasons with the Bears would be an understatement.
When it comes to first-round draft picks in recent history, the Chicago Bears have seen more failures than successes. For every Kyle Long, Kyle Fuller and Roquan Smith there’s a Shea McClellin, Leonard Floyd and Mitchell Trubisky.
The Bears are once again without a first-round pick in this year’s draft, which might be a blessing in disguise considering, more often than not, those picks haven’t ultimately panned out.
Bleacher Report named Fuller the Bears’ best first-round pick of the last decade, but who’s been the worst?
While offensive lineman Gabe Carimi was a candidate, Bleacher Report ultimately named receiver Kevin White as the Bears’ worst first-round draft pick of the past decade.
Like so many players who don’t reach their potential early in their careers, wideout Kevin White battled multiple injuries.
He missed his rookie campaign with a stress fracture in his leg that required surgery. Then in 2016, after four appearances, the West Virginia product suffered a high ankle sprain and a fractured fibula.
Despite the early setbacks, White opened 2017 in a starting role. He caught two passes for six yards and then fractured his shoulder blade, which put him on injured reserve for a third consecutive year.
To say that White, the 7th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, underwhelmed in his four seasons with the Bears would be an understatement. White played in just 14 games, where he had 25 receptions for 285 yards.
Injuries were ultimately his downfall, coupled with his limited route tree. But while White was a project that needed live game experience to thrive, it’s hard to learn on the job when you can’t stay healthy.
The first three seasons of his career were marred by injuries, as he was placed on injured reserve each of those three seasons. By the time 2018 rolled up, the Bears had added Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller to their receiver corp., and White found himself the odd-man out. He didn’t wind up on IR in 2018 only because he didn’t see the field that often.
When the Bears parted ways following his four-year deal, White briefly landed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, where he was battling for a roster spot. But, stop me if you’ve heard this before, White was hampered by a hamstring injury and missed the final cuts.
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