NFL Notes: Bears, Eagles, Ravens & Vikings

Bears

Bears QB Jay Cutler said he believes former first-round WR Kevin White is “going to be something special.”

“It’s just a matter of him letting those athletic gifts come through and him getting comfortable with the system and the verbiage and the splits and everything else that he’s going to learn, and being at a place where he doesn’t have to think and can just go out and play football,” Cutler said, via ESPN.com. “I think once we hit a fast-forward button and get to that point, he’s going to be something special.”

Eagles

• Eagles RB Darren Sproles told reporters that he plans to play two more years in the NFL. (Matt Lombardo)
• This comes after the news this morning that Sproles signed a one-year extension with the Eagles. (NFLTR)

Ravens

Ravens WR Steve Smith Sr. suffered a “double rupture” of his Achilles’ last November.

“Raw, shredded chicken,” Steve’s wife, Angie, said of the injury.

Smith explained that it was much harder for him to go through this kind of rehab process, given his age.

“When you are young and get hurt, you feel like you can just blow through it,” Smith said, via Bleacher Report. “When you are older, you overthink everything, overanalyze. You run the numbers, do the percentages in your head. You start to psych yourself out. You lose the belief in your ability because of your age.

“Age sometimes is more powerful in how we look at things than how we are physically feeling. I realized how negative we can be as we become older. I had to really fight that a lot. I was telling myself, ‘I’m too old to come back.’ I didn’t sleep well.”

• Ravens WR Mike Wallace passed his conditioning test and took part in Friday’s practice. (Jeff Zrebiec)

Vikings

• Vikings QB Taylor Heinecke suffered a severed tendon in his left foot while attempting to help his friend break into his apartment. Heinecke is expected to be out three months, due to the injury. (Ben Goessling)