According to Mike Garafolo, the Bears are declining WR Kevin White‘s fifth-year option.
This move doesn’t come as a big surprise, given that White hasn’t come close to living up to his draft status the past three seasons.
The fifth-year option would have cost Chicago $13,924,000 for the 2019 season. It’s worth mentioning that the fifth-year option is only guaranteed for injury and wouldn’t have prevented the two parties from working on a long-term extension.
White, 25, is a former No. 7 overall pick by the Bears out of West Virginia in the 2015 NFL Draft. He is entering the final year of his four-year, $16.563 million fully guaranteed rookie contract and is set to earn a base salary of $2,693,598 for the 2018 season.
White has struggled to remain healthy since being drafted. He missed his entire rookie season after sustaining a stress fracture in his shin, and then landed on the injured reserve once again in 2016 after suffering a spiral fracture in his fibula.
Last season, White sustained another season-ending injury in Week 1 after going down with a fractured collarbone.
In 2017, White appeared in one game and recorded two receptions for six yards and no touchdown.
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