With all of the off-field injuries that have taken place in recent years, players continue to put themselves in harm’s way during the offseason. Although this incident certainly seems more benign than some other activities that have caused players to miss time in the past, this particular activity could violate the terms of Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith’s contract. The good news for Carolina is that this isn’t a serious injury in need of excessive rehabilitation and Smith can still train himself to get in football shape with the ailment. Smith had surgery to insert a plate and some screws into the arm to aid the healing process and is expected to make a full recovery by the end of the preseason at the latest.

NFL contracts do not permit players to participate in any organized football outside of a league setting, but since Smith is expected to be back and ready to go in time for the regular season, it is unlikely that the Panthers will take any action. It is believed that Smith was injured during a flag football game at his youth camp over the weekend, but the injury is said to have occurred the day after the camp was supposed to finish up. It remains unclear whether or not Smith was playing in a pick-up game with some adults or just messing around with the kids attending his camp. Regardless of circumstances, the Panthers now have one addition worry to add to their already lengthy list heading into the 2010 season.

Already expected to be reliant on the run this year with a Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams two-headed attack, the Panthers cannot afford to lose their one big playmaker for any extended period of time. A stalwart wideout with the club in Muhsin Muhammad recently announced his retirement leaving the Panthers already with a short depth chart at receiver. Teams may really key in on stopping the ground attack and forcing the Panthers to air it out with inexperienced quarterbacks Matt Moore and rookie Jimmy Clausen who will be competing for the starting gig this summer.

The only possible silver lining to this situation for Carolina is the fact that Smith’s injury and presumed absence from training camp means that the younger wideouts on their depth chart will get more reps. Some of the names to look out for include three players drafted this past April in Brandon LaFell, Armanti Edwards, and David Gettis. Of course the Panthers still have Dwayne Jarrett on their roster, but he has been a huge disappointment to this point in his career and may be on his last chance. Some lesser names that could rise up to claim the spot are Trent Guy, Dexter Jackson, Charly Martin, Kenneth Moore, Wallace Wright, and Oliver Young. With their head coach John Fox coaching for his job this season, the road ahead looks awfully bumpy for this franchise in the difficult NFC South division.

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