Bears Decline Kevin White's Option

[G08]

I'm actually really curious to see what Matt Nagy has in mind for him.

[WindyCity]

14 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

This is the first chance Pace has had to make any move showing us his position on White’s future without outright eating a fully guaranteed contract at a position at which we were already lacking in upside players. He has literally spent the past 2 months doing everything he can by signing Robinson, Gabriel and Burton and drafting Miller and Wims to make it clear that Kevin White will only be a part of the plan if he can dictate it on the field.

I don’t understand why you feel the need to spike the ball on the kid here - he’s worked his *** off trying to be everything Pace envisioned when he took him in the top 10 in spite of several major injuries when a lesser player or person might have thrown in the towel, taken their $16.5M in guarantees and moved on to the next phase of their life. I have a ton of respect for Kevin White personally. We would be incredibly fortunate if every one of our players was as committed to maxing out their NFL potential as White. It’s said that true character shows itself in the face of adversity, and to me Kevin White has shown, repeatedly, to be a role model for others in how to carry themselves. I don’t know that he’s ever going to amount to anything in the NFL here or anywhere else, but I’m for damn sure going to be pulling for him. That’s a guy I want around the other guys on my team. 

Pace's biggest failure with Kevin White was relying on him last season. He was relied on to be the #2 WR and subsequently left Trubisky short handed. There is no way he should have been so heavily relied on last season.

Pace has clearly moved on, which is smart and a year late.

I do not really care about Kevin White personally.  A bust is a bust. I hope he enjoys the money and the rest of his life.

[WindyCity]

4 hours ago, G08 said:

I'm actually really curious to see what Matt Nagy has in mind for him.

My guess is that he will be the backup to Allen Robinson, which means we should see some of him in camp as Robinson is geared up for week 1.

Nagy has talked about the importance of route running. That does not really jive with Kevin White who, when he is actually on the field, has not shown to be a sharp or good route runner.

If healthy I think he will be rotated in from time to time to run intermediate to deep routes.

 

[G08]

5 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

My guess is that he will be the backup to Allen Robinson, which means we should see some of him in camp as Robinson is geared up for week 1.

Nagy has talked about the importance of route running. That does not really jive with Kevin White who, when he is actually on the field, has not shown to be a sharp or good route runner.

If healthy I think he will be rotated in from time to time to run intermediate to deep routes.

 

You like him as an X? I think I see him more as a Z because with his inexperience in the league I don't think he's going to be good at defeating jams, etc. Plus you can put him in motion from the Z and give him handoffs, jet sweeps etc.

[WindyCity]

3 minutes ago, G08 said:

You like him as an X? I think I see him more as a Z because with his inexperience in the league I don't think he's going to be good at defeating jams, etc. Plus you can put him in motion from the Z and give him handoffs, jet sweeps etc.

I do not think he has the speed left to fill that role. 

We have now established that he is not a good route runner and cannot defeat jams.

I do not think he is elusive enough that you want him running the ball. That also seems like it would test his durability.

[WindyCity]

My guess is if we do not have injuries we will not see much of White at all.

At best he will be the 7th target on offense, so even if there is an injury he will probably move to 6th optiom

[G08]

23 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

I do not think he has the speed left to fill that role. 

We have now established that he is not a good route runner and cannot defeat jams.

I do not think he is elusive enough that you want him running the ball. That also seems like it would test his durability.

I dunno... I think he's still got some quicks about him. Won't know more until we actually see him of course but I'm pretty sure Pace is going to want to see what he's got while limiting Robinson's reps until he's 100% cleared.

[WindyCity]

1 minute ago, G08 said:

I dunno... I think he's still got some quicks about him. Won't know more until we actually see him of course but I'm pretty sure Pace is going to want to see what he's got while limiting Robinson's reps until he's 100% cleared.

Once the season starts I do not think we are going to see much of him at all.

In camp maybe, but I cannot see how they routinely incorporate him into the offense on a regular week.

I am far more concerned with getting Shaheen reps and targets.

[G08]

4 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

Once the season starts I do not think we are going to see much of him at all.

In camp maybe, but I cannot see how they routinely incorporate him into the offense on a regular week.

I am far more concerned with getting Shaheen reps and targets.

I've got him as WR4 right now behind Robinson, Gabriel and Miller.

X - Robinson, Miller

Z - Gabriel, White

Ze - Miller, Gabriel, Cohen

Y - Shaheen, Sims

U -Burton, Brown

[WindyCity]

6 minutes ago, G08 said:

I've got him as WR4 right now behind Robinson, Gabriel and Miller.

X - Robinson, Miller

Z - Gabriel, White

Ze - Miller, Gabriel, Cohen

Y - Shaheen, Sims

U -Burton, Brown

That is probably where he is at.

I just cannot see on a regular game week him getting a ton of reps. I think they are more likely to go 2 TEs and get Shaheen on the field than they are to bring in White for one of the starters.

But White contributing is a long shot, just because of the depth chart even if he is healthy. I think we will just see if he can stay healthy in a limited reps situation. But if they are throwing 35 passes a game, it is hard to see him getting many at all.

[WindyCity]

I think what is going to kill Kevin White's targets more than anything is that they already have 3 young players [Burton, Miller, Shaheen] that they need to see "what they can do".

So if you are going to target someone in a developmental role, my guess is White is only #4 on that list.

You would be targeting White to see if he can do anything, but those targets would be better directed to the 3 guys above who have more upside than what White has left.

[G08]

Selfishly I'd like for us to salvage something from his career, but truth be told, even if he gets out of this season healthy (16 games, ~400 yards, 2 TDs) how can Pace justify bringing him back? In 2019, the "only" WRs we'll have under contract are Robinson, Gabriel and Miller. I wonder if Pace would throw a team-friendly deal at White that is protected by games played?

[WindyCity]

3 hours ago, G08 said:

Selfishly I'd like for us to salvage something from his career, but truth be told, even if he gets out of this season healthy (16 games, ~400 yards, 2 TDs) how can Pace justify bringing him back? In 2019, the "only" WRs we'll have under contract are Robinson, Gabriel and Miller. I wonder if Pace would throw a team-friendly deal at White that is protected by games played?

We have our top 3. I guess if he shows something maybe a team friendly deal but my guess is he would look for more of an opportunity.

He is going to need an injury to someone to open the door for him, which is super ironic.

[Sugashane]

To any GM who picks up White in 2019 to help their receiving corps...

[IronMike84]