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Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com reports that the Panthers have suspended receiver Steve Smith two games for his training-camp cold-cocking of cornerback Ken Lucas.
Smith, who was sent home from camp after the Friday fight, will return to practice on Monday.
“What [Smith] did was wrong and we take very serious and he is being punished severely for it,” coach John Fox said.
Neither Smith nor Lucas were present for a Saturday “Fan Fest” practice at Bank of America Stadium. Fox said that Lucas suffered a broken nose in the melee.
Based on our calculations, the suspension will cost Smith $205,882.35 in game checks, based on his $1.75 million base salary. He also might be required to forfeit 25 percent of his signing bonus allocation for 2008, if his contract contains language triggering repayment in the event of a default, and if the Panthers choose to pursue it.
Under the CBA, the team has the ability to suspend a player for up to four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team. Smith will have the right to appeal, and the test is whether the penalty is consistent with past punishment for similar behavior.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
why 25 percent? It should be 12.5.
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
The only player suspended for fighting in training camp this year.
There is no standard in this league, just depends on the team. What a load of Bullsh**. If this was standard for fighting at training camp
more than 60 players wouldn’t be playing in 1st 2 games. Now the whole team get punished. BullSH**
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Rating: 1.4 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
hey, this isn’t about brett farve?? whats the deal
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Rating: 3.4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
This drops him about 3 rounds in the FF draft.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Dwayne Jarrett still won’t see the field.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
The difference, trailerdawg, is that this fight apparently involved a punch in the face. Most of these ‘fights’ are glorified shoving matches, and are likely forgotten by the involved parties by the end of the shower on that day.
This act represents a pattern from Smith and involved a significant injury to a teammate; I feel its worthy of a suspension but if I’m running the Panthers, I have him donate a game check to charity.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Yeah, what a bad deal for poor Smith. While tempers flair on other teams, those players don’t have a history of beating up teammates. Not to mention he attacked while Lucas was on a knee.
Great role model and team leader. He deserves exactly what he got.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Repeat offender, I’m sure he was warned, Boo Hoo !
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
trailerdawg, are you really as dense as your post suggests? I dream of a day where there becomes some minimum IQ needed to post comments.
Your logic is completely warped. First of all fights and squirmishes break out all the time in training camp. That’s almost to be expected when battling for your job in the summer heat. When those fights happen, they are usually also in pads and with a helmet on. What Smith did was commit an old fashioned beat down on a guy with no helmet on and it lead to a significant injury to a teammate (if the reports are correct that he fractured the guys orbital bone). Throw in the fact that Smith had already attacked and beat another player to a pulp back in 2002 and you can honestly say that they weren’t warranted in suspending him for conduct detrimental to the team?
Are you seriously that dumb and delusional?
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Rating: 4.2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
A lot of the normal brawls that do occur in trainning camp are similar to what is seen on professional wrestling. Just a few fake punches and fake choke-holds.
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August 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
helps the pick the birds got from carolina. here’s to hoping they lose both those games. also this post counts as the obligatory any rumor involving a WR/trade talk to the eagles.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hey, Dana White is always looking for new talent at 185 lb.
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August 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Can’t wait for the EAGLES to get Carolina’s ‘09 1st round draft pick. I think this moves it into the top 10 thanks steve!
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
“The only player suspended for fighting in training camp this year.”
the only player to sucker-punch a teammate on the sidelines, too. why are you people trying to characterize this as just a regular old training camp scuffle? What turd-in-a-thimble Steve Smith did is called assault in most states.
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Rating: 4.2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
“This drops him about 3 rounds in the FF draft.”
I was about to ask this question. What a shame this guy can’t keep his cool. I’m kind of surprised they took such a hard stance with him, I figured a fine and he’d miss a few preseason games.
They’re at San Diego in Week 1, then home to the Bears in Week 2, so they could realistically be looking at 1-1 when he comes back. I still think they have a shot at the division.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Does Ken Lucas not get suspended because he got his A$$ kicked?
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Chargers will open up now at -14 in there opener .
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August 2nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
A well-deserved suspension. Not that Lucas is a saint, but I have to say that he is coming out of this looking like a heck of a stand-up guy. Though the victim of a cowardly sucker-punch (there’s no debate about this fact as by all eyewitness accounts, Lucas was down on one knee when Smith blindsided him), he has said that “it’s over and done, let’s move on.” He has not bad-mouthed Smith in any way and obviously is not pressing charges for assault. Standing up and hugging the guy who just broke your nose and royally messed up your eye with a sucker-punch shows that he is a bigger man the Smith in many ways. By all accounts, Smith is beyond sorry for what happened and I’m sure he just snapped, then realized what a mistake he had made. But, there’s just no excuse for that kind of snapping.
But, adversity seems to fuel Smith, so maybe he’ll come back unstoppable after he serves his suspension. Stay tuned.
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Rating: 4.4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
There is a party tonite for the Eagle college scouts and the rest of the NFC South.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
What Smith did was over the line, those who would use the excuse that “fights happen in every training camp” seem to forget that skirmished happen with helmets on 99.9% of the time. This is no different than Romonowski hurting his teammate or Michael Westbrook doing the same when he was with the Skins. If you want to mix it up in camp then keep the lids on.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
sorry, but stevie smith has been / always will be a pure pygmy punk
i have no doubts x-redskin mikey westbrook (after wailing on fellow team mate / x-panther rback stephen davis) could show mr. smith how its really done… lmfao…
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Rating: 3.75 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Smith should appeal. Dwayne Jarrett has a DUI but doesn’t get any games? How is that fair?
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
trailerdawg is a homer moron.
I trashed Smith for being a loser a couple of post back when it was reported Lucas’ injury wasn’t as severe and he lost it. Frankly, I’m shocked Smith didn’t get 4 games from the NFL because he is a repeat offender.
Smith is a jerk. Carolina sucked before and they will be even worse now.
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Rating: 4.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
kudos to the panthers for having the balls to actually stand up to their best player.
also kudos to vox veritas for calling smith a “turd-in-a-thimble”
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Two games is about right. If he had killed Lucas, he would be in line for the maximum four game suspension…………..
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