LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery said Thursday that his injured hamstring felt, “a lot better than last week” following two consecutive days of limited participation in practice.
Jeffery has been inactive four straight games. The Bears play at Detroit on Sunday with a chance to reach the .500 mark going into next week’s bye.
“It's been frustrating at times, but I have great teammates and great coaches, and great people around me that are keeping me in good spirits,” Jeffery said.
We'll evaluate it. Let's just see what the coaches say and see how it feels. We are a couple of days away from Sunday, so we'll see.”
The Bears also received better news on wideout Eddie Royal (ankle), who practiced for the first time since Chicago beat the Raiders on Oct. 4.
“Eddie is a guy that some of our coaching staff has had experience with, including myself,” Bears head coach John Fox said. “He’s proven to be an accomplished All-Pro wide receiver. We brought him to be a slot and we’ve had a couple of injuries, which have been fairly well documented. I know we’re better with him than without him.”
In other injury news, Shea McClellin (knee), Antrel Rolle (ankle), Ego Ferguson (ankle) and Terrance Mitchell (hamstring) did not practice Thursday.
Josh Bellamy (groin), Jermon Bushrod (shoulder), Patrick Omameh (ankle), Jeremiah Ratliff (ankle), Will Sutton (elbow) and Pernell McPhee (shoulder) were limited.
Rookie first-round pick Kevin White spent time on a side field with a member of the Bears’ training staff during the portion of practice open to the media. White, who is on the physically unable to perform list, underwent surgery in the preseason to fix a stress fracture in his left shin.
“They are continuing to rehab,” Fox said. “The training staff, they’ve been doing a lot of indoor work. Now he’s progressing to where he can get on the grass a little bit. He’s not been activated. He’s still reserve PUP.”
