Kevin White Dubbed Bears Worst 1st Rd. Pick Since 2010.

[soulman]

Kevin White dubbed Bears' worst 1st-round draft pick since 2010

Alyssa Barbieri

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35 minutes ago

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.

[soulman]

Kinda tough to argue with that logic.  This is also why I keep hammering on "pure athleticism" may make a guy a great athlete but not necessarily a great football player.  Injuries aside White had a ton of other issues he was never able to overcome.

[WindyCity]

He was bad even if healthy. Suspect hands and no route running.

Mitch is worse considering what we have up and what was expected.

[soulman]

20 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

He was bad even if healthy. Suspect hands and no route running.

Mitch is worse considering what we have up and what was expected.

In no way is Mitch a worse pick than White.

Yeah he regressed badly last year as did the entire offense but White never even progressed so how could he regress.

There's always a lot expected of any top ten pick but NFL QB is exponentially more difficult to master than WR and even at that Mitch has produced whereas White never did.  You may not be a fan of Mitch but you can't stretch that thought to fit even if you lined it with elastic.

[Heinz D.]

I'm confused. Was there ever any doubt it would be White? 

[WindyCity]

1 hour ago, soulman said:

In no way is Mitch a worse pick than White.

Yeah he regressed badly last year as did the entire offense but White never even progressed so how could he regress.

There's always a lot expected of any top ten pick but NFL QB is exponentially more difficult to master than WR and even at that Mitch has produced whereas White never did.  You may not be a fan of Mitch but you can't stretch that thought to fit even if you lined it with elastic.

In terms of the long term damage to the franchise it is Mitch.

[soulman]

5 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

I'm confused. Was there ever any doubt it would be White? 

Not after year two.

[soulman]

5 hours ago, WindyCity said:

In terms of the long term damage to the franchise it is Mitch.

That's not the point the article made.  Did you even read it or are you just interjecting your wholly biased personal opinion again?

[dll2000]

On 4/5/2020 at 8:01 PM, soulman said:

That's not the point the article made.  Did you even read it or are you just interjecting your wholly biased personal opinion again?

The title is worst pick since 2010.

You have to say if MT doesn't have a great 2020 it is him.

Yes, KW never played so was a total bust, but he was a WR not a QB.  MT was number 2 overall pick versus number 8 or whatever White was and they traded up for him (which is overblown but still relevant).  He was hope of the franchise while White was just a hoped for role player.

MT has started 2.3ish seasons now and done very little.  I know they won games in 2018, but he did not play good in a lot of them and was plain awful in some.   2019 may not be all his fault, but it is what it is and he publicly bares most of blame.  

Add on to that it turned out to be a really good first round QB class and it makes the pick doubly worse.

Just like Portland Trailblazers will always be known for passing on Jordan, Bears will always be known for passing on Mahomes even though he went 15 or wherever he went so 14 other teams passed on him too.

Still an outside chance MT wins job or later inherits it from an injured Foles and turns his legacy around.  If he doesn't do it this year it is his last in Chicago.  Do or die year for him.  

[G08]

Hated him the second we drafted him... **** I hated him before that.

[soulman]

8 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Yes, KW never played so was a total bust, but he was a WR not a QB.  MT was number 2 overall pick versus number 8 or whatever White was and they traded up for him (which is overblown but still relevant).  He was hope of the franchise while White was just a hoped for role player.

But more is also expected of a QB and the position is exponentially more difficult to master.  Also, there is no way in hell Pace spent the #8 overall pick on a role player.  We both know that.  KW was seen as having the potential to be a #1 WR.

Even if Mitch fails to progress he still will have accomplished far more than KW ever did.  Only those who keep ragging on Mitch and who also ragged about Cutler could ever see Mitch being a worse pick than KW or Shea McClellin either for that matter.

Edited April 9, 2020 by soulman

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

11 hours ago, soulman said:

But more is also expected of a QB and the position is exponentially more difficult to master.  Also, there is no way in hell Pace spent the #8 overall pick on a role player.  We both know that.  KW was seen as having the potential to be a #1 WR.

Even if Mitch fails to progress he still will have accomplished far more than KW ever did.  Only those who keep ragging on Mitch and who also ragged about Cutler could ever see Mitch being a worse pick than KW or Shea McClellin either for that matter.

White was for sure there worse pick, as a single draft pick, but if you look at the effect on the franchise, it seems likely that Mitch as a pick is going to be worse for the franchise