knock on wood. But when healthy they’re both very capable.”

This was one of those days, though, when Fox’s quotes didn’t do justice to the glean in his eye.

Talking specifically about the impact of White’s lost rookie season, Fox added, “There’s some rust. I think anytime someone doesn’t practice and play, we have to bring the WD40 out and spray the rust off.

“I’m seeing progress with him getting back into football condition.”

Most impressive about White in Tuesday’s practice was the route-running and physicality he displayed in matchups with Patriots starting corners Butler, Logan Ryan and nickel Justin Coleman.

Running primarily inside slants, short curls and button hooks underneath, White looked more like a receiver than an athlete against one of the league’s better defenses.

Make no mistake, White still has a great deal of work to do to demonstrate he has grasped the whole route tree, but the consistency with which he made plays in traffic against Butler and Logan should not be ignored.

It also is difficult to imagine after watching practice No. 2 between the Patriots and Bears that Josh Bellamy hasn’t already secured a roster spot.

Bellamy, an invaluable special-teams presence last season, has had a good summer, and for some reason he has been consistently behind the secondary in training camp more than other receivers.

Bellamy did it against the Patriots on Tuesday, getting wide open deep twice for 2 touchdowns.

The two other receivers who have stood out throughout camp are Marc Mariani (wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson says “I love, absolutely love, him”) and seventh-round pick Daniel Braverman. Braverman has looked more like a seventh-rounder here in New England, however.

Beyond this good news for quarterback Jay Cutler and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, the upshot could be bad news for Eddie Royal.

Mariani appears to have made the team, and as much as the Bears probably would love to sneak Braverman through to the practice squad, that seems unlikely.

The Bears aren’t going to keep three slot receivers, and having missed more than two weeks and counting with concussion issues, the veteran Royal is looking more and more like the odd man out.

• Hub Arkush is the Executive Editor of Pro Football Weekly and can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.