Carolina Panthers

Roddy White says Josh Norman isn't among the NFL's elite DBs

Published Dec. 21, 2015 5:57 p.m. ET

foxsports

Roddy White, who has faced his fair share of incredibly talented defensive backs in his career, isn't ready to place Josh Norman in the "elite" category just yet. With the Atlanta Falcons set to face the Carolina Panthers in Week 16, White sounded off on Norman, who will likely spend quite a bit of time facing off against Julio Jones.

Via Vaughn McClure of ESPN:

"I know tough guys in this league. DBs that I felt were tough? Darrelle [Revis], Champ [Bailey], Al Harris, [Aqib] Talib, Richard Sherman."

He was then asked if Norman would be in the category of them.

"Hell no," White said. "You must be trippin'. Of covering people? You've got to man up and go out there and get after people if you're going to be that. You can't sit back and play zone, dropping, playing Cover 2 for half the game and say you're locking people up. Come on, man. Everybody knows that."

It didn't stop there either, as White refused to call Norman a "tough guy."

"I don't believe he's a tough guy," White told ESPN on Sunday. "When you say you're out there talking, I don't pay attention to guys like that. I just don't think he's a tough guy."

Well, if this rivalry wasn't hot enough, White definitely just added plenty of fuel to the fire, to say the least. It'll be interesting to see how Norman does in a second matchup with Jones this coming weekend, and also how much White squares off with Norman.