Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver Roddy White not worried about knee

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White knows his way around defensive backs. He can also get by a knee injury, he said Wednesday.

White, 33, said he had his knee drained as a routine maintenance procedure and doesn’t anticipate sitting out any time because of it.

“It’s not a concern to me because it’s just like a little irritation,” White told ESPN on Wednesday, noting he had the same procedure in 2014. “My cartilage in my knee is not smooth. It’s kind of rippled. You can elect to have surgery, but I just decided not to because I’m not a surgery guy. I just don’t want to do it. They gave me the option two years ago to have surgery. They said they would have to slice off the top of my cartilage, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I don’t want them to keep shaving my cartilage off until there’s no more cartilage. Then you start to get arthritis.”

The Falcons open training camp today and White is expected to again be a key member of the receiving corps.

White missed two games in 2014 but the knee wasn’t an issue in the regular season. He said if his knee flares up on Monday, he can have it drained and return to practice by Wednesday.

“It’s not an issue where I’m going to miss a game, because it’s such a small issue. I’m not worried about it — not at all,” he said.