McPhee only Bear on PUP list; Trevathan may practice Thursday

BOURBONNAIS — After injuries short-circuited his rebuild of the Bears in his first two years as general manager — 33 players on injured reserve, including 19 last season — Ryan Pace dared to express optimism about the team’s health heading into the start of training camp at Olivet Nazarene on Wednesday.

Even linebacker Danny Trevathan, who was all but expected to open camp on the physically unable-to-perform (PUP) list after surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his right knee he suffered in Week 12 last season, might be ready to go after all.

“There’s a chance he’s ready to roll,” Pace said. “We need to evaluate. And that doesn’t mean that we still won’t ease those guys in slowly. But it might mean we might not have to P-U-P him.

“We’ve got the physicals going on, and then we’ve got the conditioning test. But to be honest with you, we feel pretty optimistic about [the team’s health] going into this.”

Alas, it was too good to be true. Late Wednesday night, the Bears announced that outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, who struggled with injuries in his first two seasons with the Bears, will open camp on the PUP list because of a knee injury.

McPhee faded in the second half of the 2015 season as he tried to play through knee problems. After offseason surgery, McPhee started training camp and the regular season on the PUP list, missing the first six weeks of the season. He had a left shoulder injury last year and missed the final regular-season game.

The extent of McPhee’s injury is not known. Unlike the regular-season PUP list — which forces an injured player to miss at least the first six games — a player can return from the training-camp PUP list at any time.

This is the third consecutive season the Bears have opened training camp with a key player on the PUP list. In 2015, wide receiver Kevin White, the team’s first-round draft pick (No. 7 overall), ended up missing the entire season with a stress fracture. Last year, McPhee and wide receiver Marquess Wilson started training camp and the regular season on the PUP list.

Besides McPhee and Trevathan, injured players to watch this year include guard Kyle Long (right ankle ligaments/torn labrum), wide receiver Kevin White (fractured left leg), outside linebackers Leonard Floyd (concussion), Willie Young (knee) and Lamarr Houston (torn left ACL) and tight end Zach Miller (broken right foot).

Pace proactively addressed the injury issue in the offseason, and now we’ll see if it made a difference. The Bears altered their practice schedule to help players recover better. They equipped players with GPS tracking devices that monitor distance traveled, speed and acceleration to try to figure out each player’s “ideal training load.” They made subtle changes in the weight room, the training room and with sports science. And he noted one other improvement — a roster he hopes can better withstand injuries.

“It’s a combative game — it’d be naive to think injuries aren’t going to occur,” Pace said. “That’s why it’s on us to make sure we stack a roster with depth.

“I feel like we have better depth now, too.”

That said, Pace likely will be keeping his fingers crossed when practice begins Thursday. You need a lot of luck in this business.

“Injuries are unpredictable,” Pace said. “But we feel pretty confident with a lot of the things we’ve done, a lot of in-depth discussions.

“There’s some optimism there.”

Follow me on Twitter @MarkPotash.

Email: mpotash@suntimes.com