The Bears have had plenty of experience with losing key wide receivers to injuries in the last few years, although there’s one difference this year than the last two.
Kevin White isn’t the receiver staring at a lost season. White has played in just four games over his first two NFL seasons, but it is Cameron Meredith who will miss this year because of the torn ACL he suffered in last Sunday’s game against the Titans.
White was a first-round pick in 2015 and said, via the Associated Press, that he feels the need “to step it up a little more” in the wake of Meredith’s loss. Fellow wideout Victor Cruz seems to think “a little more” is just scraping the surface of what the Bears need from White this year.
“He’s a great player and I think in talking to him he understands how good he can be; it’s just a matter of putting that work in out here on the practice field to reap those benefits,” Cruz said, via the team’s website. “He’s been up and down with injuries, so this is the year where he has to take over and be the guy that they drafted him to be. I think he’s ready for that and I think he’s conscious of the pressure that’s on him and he’s relishing it.”
The Bears will need more than one player to succeed at wideout if their offense is going to be on solid footing with Meredith out of the lineup, but a leap from and continued health for White would be a pretty good place to start that effort.
