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Kevin White

Johnathan Cyprien, Dion Jordan Land On 49ers’ Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 3:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

A 71-game starter throughout a seven-year career, Johnathan Cyprien expressed skepticism about joining the 49ers’ practice squad recently. Kyle Shanahan expressed intrigue about the opportunity to carry up to six experienced players on his 2020 practice squad. But the 49ers made the longtime safety one of their cuts Saturday, and he changed his tune.

Cyprien, 30, agreed to join San Francisco’s practice squad. He will make $12K per week for each week he is on the 49ers’ P-squad. Were he to be promoted to the active roster, that rate would change to at least the veteran minimum.

Cyprien was a full-time Jaguars starter for four seasons, from 2013-16, and started 10 games for the 2017 Titans. He has not been a regular first-stringer since, however. He will join former Bears top-10 pick Dion Jordan and Kevin White on the 49ers’ P-squad.

San Francisco signed White recently, but he did not make the active roster. The 49ers added Jordan this offseason as well. The former No. 3 overall pick played rotational roles with the Seahawks and Raiders over the past three seasons. While suspensions have defined the defensive end’s career, he will have another chance to stay with a team — albeit in unusual fashion.

Here is the 49ers’ full practice squad:

49ers Cut Dion Jordan, Kevin White

September 5th, 2020 at 8:31pm CST by Zachary Links

On Saturday, the 49ers put a pair of former first-round notables on the curb. Defensive end Dion Jordan and Kevin White were dropped from the roster as a part of the club’s 20+ cuts on Saturday. 

Jordan’s NFL career has taken some odd turns, to say the least. After being selected No. 3 overall by the Dolphins, Jordan did little to justify his pre-draft hype. After some underwhelming seasons, missed seasons, and a number of suspensions, Jordan found his way to the Seahawks in 2017. In 2018, he showed some promise as a rotational piece, and he parlayed that into a one-year deal with the Raiders. He hooked on with the Niners in early August, but he didn’t get to stay for long.

White, a former No. 7 overall pick of the Bears, came out of West Virginia with tons of hype. Over the last five years, injuries have limited him to just 14 games. The Niners have been decimated by injuries at wide receiver, but they still didn’t see enough out of White’s ~1 week audition to keep him. For his career, White has 25 catches for 285 yards and zero touchdowns.

Here’s the full rundown of the 49ers’ cuts:

49ers Sign WR Kevin White

August 27th, 2020 at 1:40pm CST by Zachary Links

The 49ers have signed Kevin White, per a club announcement. This marks yet another stop for the former No. 7 overall pick, who has yet to realize his potential as a pro. 

White, a West Virginia product, came out of West Virginia with tons of hype. The Bears jumped at the chance to grab him in 2015, but injuries have limited him ever since. Over the last five years, he’s played in just 14 games. And, in the last ~365 days, he’s been pretty much off the radar. The Cardinals were his last employer, and they cut him in August of 2019.

All in all, White has 25 career catches for 285 yards and zero touchdowns. Still, he’s coming into his age-28 season, so there’s reason to believe that he can get back on the right track.

SF already added Tavon Austin and J.J. Nelson, but the team is dealing with a host of injuries. Deebo Samuel remains out with his foot fracture, while Richie James is battling a broken hand. First-round pick Brandon Aiyuk is dealing with a hamstring injury, further clouding the 49ers’ potential first-string wideout picture. Jalen Hurd also suffered an ACL tear recently, with that setback following Travis Benjamin‘s opt-out decision. Meanwhile, they’ve released Jaron Brown with an injury designation.

49ers Working Out Kevin White, Justin Hardy, Other WRs

August 25th, 2020 at 1:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Despite agreeing to terms with three veteran wide receivers recently, the 49ers are still looking for help at the position. They are working out four wideouts Tuesday.

Former top-10 pick Kevin White, ex-Falcons role player Justin Hardy, Johnny Holton and River Cracraft are taking part in the audition, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This marks White’s second workout in a week. The Jets brought in the former Bears draftee previously.

San Francisco already added Tavon Austin, J.J. Nelson and Jaron Brown, but the team is dealing with a host of injuries. Deebo Samuel remains out with his foot fracture, while Richie James is battling a broken hand. First-round pick Brandon Aiyuk is dealing with a hamstring injury, further clouding the 49ers’ potential first-string wideout picture. Jalen Hurd also suffered an ACL tear recently, with that setback following Travis Benjamin‘s opt-out decision.

Kyle Shanahan was in Atlanta when the Falcons drafted Hardy in the 2015 fourth round. He played five seasons with the Falcons, playing a reserve role. While Hardy has 95 career catches for 946 yards, he has never eclipsed 225 in a season. Holton played a lesser role for the Raiders and played 16 games — mostly as a special-teamer — with the Steelers in 2019. Cracraft has operated mostly as a Broncos return man. The latter’s most recent work in Denver came in ex-49ers assistant Rich Scangarello‘s offense.

White went nearly a year without a connection to an NFL team. The Cardinals released the former No. 7 overall pick last August, but he has begun to resurface on the NFL radar. Although White has played in only 14 games since being a sought-after 2015 prospect, 2020 would still be just his age-28 season. It does not appear teams are throwing in the towel on his career yet.

Jets To Audition WR Kevin White

August 20th, 2020 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Kevin White will receive another chance to show he can stick on an NFL roster. The former top-10 pick has a workout scheduled with the Jets, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

A severely injury-prone player with the Bears, White has not played since the 2018 season. For his career, the former No. 7 overall pick has accumulated just 25 receptions and 285 yards.

This is White’s first appearance on the NFL radar since the Cardinals cut him nearly a year ago to the day. Arizona signed White to a one-year deal in 2019. White, 28, may have backers in New York, however. Both Adam Gase and Joe Douglas were with Chicago when the franchise drafted White.

As a senior at West Virginia, White surged onto NFL radars with a 109-catch, 1,447-yard, 10-touchdown season. But injuries quickly derailed White in Chicago. A shin injury cost White all of his rookie season, and White’s 2016 featured a high ankle sprain and a broken leg. In September 2017, White broke a bone in his shoulder and missed 15 games. White played in nine Bears games in 2018 but caught only four passes in Matt Nagy‘s first season.

White’s workout follows the Jets’ Donte Moncrief audition. With Denzel Mims on the mend with a hamstring injury and Josh Doctson opting out, the Jets are shorthanded at receiver.

Cardinals Release WR Kevin White

August 21st, 2019 at 5:02pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Cardinals have released wide receiver Kevin White, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

White, the seventh overall selection in the 2015 draft, inked a one-year, $1.5MM deal with Arizona earlier this year which contained $400K in guaranteed money. While he was viewed as a longshot to make the Cardinals’ roster, White’s chances theoretically got better when fellow pass-catcher Hakeem Butler went down with a hand injury earlier this week. However, Butler’s health questions weren’t enough to save White’s roster spot.

Various injuries have cost White time over the past four seasons, with shin and shoulder ailments doing the most damage. White missed the entirety of his rookie campaign, and subsequently appeared in only 16 games in the following three years. 2018 actually marked White’s healthiest year (he played in nine games), but he only posted four receptions for 92 yards.

New Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is expected to use a four-wide receiver look quite frequently during his debut season, and with White out of the picture, Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, Andy Isabella, and KeeSean Johnson are now clearly the top four wideouts on Arizona’s depth chart.

Contract Details: Ingram, Suggs, Kendricks

March 19th, 2019 at 10:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are the latest details from some agreed-upon contracts during the second wave of free agency. All links courtesy of the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, unless otherwise noted.

Cardinals Sign WR Kevin White

March 14th, 2019 at 5:27pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Cardinals will sign free agent wideout Kevin White after meeting with him on Thursday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The Cardinals also confirmed the signing and announced that it is a one-year pact.

It’s difficult to call White anything other than a first-round bust at this point. Many observers were high on White’s talent when he left West Virginia to enter the 2015 draft, and that upside made him the seventh overall pick of the Bears. But he simply hasn’t been able to stay on the field.

Various injuries have cost White time over the past four seasons, with shin and shoulder ailments doing the most damage. White missed the entirety of his rookie campaign, and subsequently appeared in only 16 games in the following three years. 2018 actually marked White’s healthiest years (he played in nine games), but he only posted four receptions for 92 yards.

Arizona is looking to surround its quarterback of the future — be that Josh Rosen or Kyler Murray — with weapons. At present, the club’s wide receiver depth chart is topped by Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, and Chad Williams.

North Notes: Hundley, K. White, Hurst

August 26th, 2018 at 10:48am CST by Rory Parks

Although many have assumed that the Packers will keep DeShone Kizer on their final roster — after all, Kizer is just one year removed from being a second-round draft pick, and Green Bay liked him enough to trade for him this offseason — Eric Baranczyk and Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com believe the Packers should keep Brett Hundley and cut Kizer if it comes to that. Baranczyk and Dougherty say the game has slowed more for Hundley than it has for Kizer, and the fact that Green Bay recently traded for Kizer should not be a factor in the team’s decision (after all, the Packers were likely to cut Damarious Randall anyway if Cleveland hadn’t been willing to deal Kizer for him). Ideally, the Packers would be able to swing a trade for one of Hundley or Kizer, but failing that, the Packers News scribes think GM Brian Gutekunst should stick with Hundley, who did not play very well in relief of the injured Aaron Rodgers last year.

Now let’s take a look at a few more notes from the league’s North divisions:

  • Wide receivers Kevin White and Javon Wims both improved their chances of making the Bears‘ 53-man roster during Chicago’s preseason victory over Kansas City last night, as Adam L. Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. White, of course, was the No. 7 overall pick of the 2015 draft — and GM Ryan Pace‘s first-ever draft choice — but injuries have almost completely wiped out the first three years of his NFL career. Wims was a seventh-round selection in this year’s draft, and Jahns believes the Bears should keep both players and six receivers overall, including Josh Bellamy.
  • Although Mackensie Alexander is battling an ankle injury, he is expected to start as the Vikings‘ slot corner — and “quarterback of the defense” in head coach Mike Zimmer‘s scheme — if he is healthy, as Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune reports. However, first-round rookie Mike Hughes — who is also battling an undisclosed injury — has been pushing for first-team reps, which is fairly remarkable when considering that he did not play in the slot in college. Hughes could overtake Alexander down the line, but in any case, Minnesota appears to be well-set at the position in the long-term. Alexander, a 2016 second-rounder, has made tremendous strides in his third summer with the club.
  • Though they had been enjoying an injury- and drama-free offseason, the Ravens have been hit hard with unwelcome news over the past few days. They lost rookie TE Hayden Hurst for three-to-four weeks, they saw star CB Jimmy Smith suspended for four games — though they at least knew that was coming — and now Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic has more bad news to report. Zrebiec tweets that emerging third-year defensive tackle Willie Henry will miss several weeks with a hernia, while promising rookie safety DeShon Elliott may be out for the season with a forearm injury. Zrebiec adds that the recent spate of bad luck will impact Baltimore’s initial roster construction, because while the team will likely carry Hurst and Henry on the 53-man roster until they are ready to return, the Ravens may need to keep an extra tight end and defensive lineman until that happens (Twitter link). Elliott, meanwhile, is an IR candidate. Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com reports that Henry had surgery for his hernia and Hurst has had surgery for the stress fracture in his foot (Twitter links).
  • Browns head coach Hue Jackson wants to keep six wide receivers on the team’s regular-season roster, as Steve Doerschuk of the Akron Beacon Journal writes. Josh Gordon, Jarvis Landry, Antonio Callaway, and Rashard Higgins make up four of those six wideouts, while sixth-round rookie Damion Ratley also stands a good chance. That means veteran Jeff Janis and relative unknowns Derrick Willies, Da’Mari Scott, and C.J. Board could be fighting it out for the last spot.

Bears Notes: Nagy, Howard, Long

July 22nd, 2018 at 12:54pm CST by Rory Parks

The Bears and Ravens will square off in the Hall of Fame Game on August 2, so they are the only two teams whose training camps are already underway. Bears camp officially opened on Friday, so let’s take a look at a few notes out of Chicago:

  • Bears fans are excited about the innovations that new head coach Matt Nagy will bring to the offensive side of the football, and Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times believes that excitement is well-founded. Nagy has a great deal of young talent at his disposal, and while much of that talent is unproven, the club certainly has the chance to turn some heads this year. Nagy’s offense is expected to blend Andy Reid‘s West Coast offense with the run-pass options that offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich learned under Chip Kelly at Oregon, and it will certainly include creative formations and shifts. Nagy is also open to innovating and experimenting throughout the course of the season as he adjusts to life as an NFL head coach.
  • One key component of the offense, running back Jordan Howard, is making a concerted effort to improve his hands so that he can become a reliable contributor in the passing game, as Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune details. Indeed, Nagy’s offense frequently utilizes running backs as pass catchers, so Howard, who has not offered much as a receiver in his first two years in the league, needs to refine his abilities. For what it’s worth, Nagy believes that Howard can be a true three-down back. Nagy said, “There’s this notion that [Howard] is just a first-and second-down back, and I don’t believe that. Jordan can play all three downs. We’re going to do that. We’re going to use him, and we’re going to use other guys on first and second down when we need to.”
  • In a separate piece, Campbell describes the importance of offensive lineman Kyle Long — who suddenly finds himself as the offense’s second-oldest player — to the Bears’ rebuild. There are a lot of intriguing new and relatively new offensive pieces at the skill positions, but those pieces cannot come together to reach their collective potential without a strong offensive line in place. Long, whose career started out with three consecutive Pro Bowl nods, has finished each of the last two seasons on injured reserve. However, Campbell reports that Long is as close to full health as he has been in two years, and that is critical not just for the Bears’ chances in 2018, but for both player and team from a contractual standpoint. After this season, Chicago could cut Long and save $5.5MM against the cap, so the next few months will go a long way towards determining Long’s future in the Windy City.
  • Kevin White, who entered the league as a 2015 top-10 pick with a ton of promise, has seen the first three years of his professional career ravaged by injury. The Bears declined his fifth-year option earlier this offseason, so he will enter the last year of his rookie contract with a lot to prove. As Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes, White has a good chance of making the team’s roster out of training camp, but given the talent that Chicago has added over the past several seasons, he will need to perform very well in camp and in the preseason to earn significant playing time. Finley reports that White looks as good as ever from a physical standpoint, and the fact that he can line up anywhere on the field in Nagy’s offense will only help his cause.
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