While Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians rains down fire and brimstone on his players, the Chicago Bears are taking a more positive pitched approach with one of their young athletes.
Wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni told Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune the Bears have resorted to reminding Kevin White how great he can be on a football field to help coax the wideout out of a two-year injury funk.
"We've got to block out the noise with him," Azzanni said. "I can't let him read papers and listen] to the media. I just can't. Because there is going to be some negative in there that gets in his head. And he can't let that happen. He has to be positive. [And we've got to go in our bunker all the time and tell him how great he is. Because he is."
After the Bears made White the No. 7 overall pick in 2015, the receiver missed all but four games in his first two seasons due to injury. To buoy his spirits, Azzanni recently showed White his explosive college film from West Virginia to help convince the first-round pick he has the talent to excel in the NFL.
"He forgets about that sometimes," Azzanni said. "Because of the embattled two years that he has had. ... I wanted him to see how he owned the ball in the air, how he used to go up and just grab that ball in the air. He's starting to do that again."
It's not often a top-10 pick needs reminding that he's good enough to beat NFL defenders. But with White's injury struggles, it's fair for the Bears to mentally rebuild their most talented pass catcher from the ground up.
Per Wiederer, White's training camp has been "ordinary" thus far. Perhaps a reminder of his explosive college days will turn the light on for the 25-year-old wideout.
In case you needed reminders yourself:
