I believed the Carolina Panthers had a chance to win the NFC South this year, but one of their most important players had to be a bonehead.

It was announced that Panthers WR Steve Smith has been suspended for the first two games of the upcoming NFL Season.

Steve Smith gave Panthers CB Ken Lucas a black eye and a broken nose during fridays practice. Smith was sent home by the Carolina Panthers.

The suspension will cost Smith more than $205,000, a fraction of his base salary. John Fox also seemed to issue a stern warning toward Smith and his future actions.

Steve Smith and Ken Lucas never really liked each other since Lucas came over in 2005, from Seattle.

“What (Smith) did was wrong and we take very serious and he is being punished severely for it,”  Head Coach John Fox said.

“Steve will be back with us,” Starting Qb Jake Delhomme said. “I know he’s extremely remorseful and he understands. But if we want to be a good football team we have to win without him.”

Smith will miss the season opener at the San Diego Chargers on Sept. 7 and the home opener the following Sunday against the Chicago Bears.

Back to the whole Carolina Panthers team, not just WR Steve Smith.

There NFL Draft looked like this:

Here's how there offseason went and what there team looks like.

Biggest Signings:

DT Ian Scott-1 yr, (played for the Chicago Bears during their Super Bowl Season).

DT Darwin Walker-1 yr (played last year with the Chicago Bears, but struggled).

WR D.J. Hackett -- 2yr, $3.5mil (came over from the Seattle Seahawks, look for him to replace Steve Smith in the first two games of the year).

WR Muhsin Muhammad -- 2yrs (Panthers fans don't expect him to be the same WR he was when he last played for you. He is 35 years old and was not very good last year with the Bears).

Jordan Gross (Franchised) -- 1yr, $7.455mil

SS Chris Harris -- 4yrs (extension, $13.27mil)

LT Travelle Wharton -- 6yrs, $36mil

Biggest Losses:

C Justin Hartwig -Released/Signed with PIT (2 yrs)
QB David Carr  - Released/Signed with NYG (1 yr)
RB Deshaun Foster - Released/Signed with SF (2 yrs)
OG Mike Wahle - Released/Signed with SEA (5 years)

Predicted Lineup:

QB: This will be Jake Delhomme’s seventh year with the Panthers and if he can stay healthy he will be very good. The backups to him are very thin. Matt Moore appeared in nine games last year, throwing three touchdowns and five interceptions. The other quarterback, Brett Basanez, has appeared in one game in his career. If any team should have signed Daunte Culpepper, it should have been the Panthers.

RB: They let Deshaun Foster go in free agency and brought in rookie RB Jonathan Stewart from Oregon. This will be DeAngelo Williams’ first year as the starter. Last year he had 717 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns. Look for rookie Jonathan Stewart to contribute and free agent pickup LaBrandon Toefield to contribute. Maybe Nick Goings will do something; he did have six touchdowns in 2004.

FB: Brad Hoover, a nine year pro, will start here, with free agent pickup Troy Fleming backing him up.

WR: Steve Smith is the obvious starter at one WR spot after he serves his two game suspension and D.J. Hackett should start at the other WR spot. Free agent pickup Muhsin Muhammad should be welcomed back, but he might not do much and Dwayne Jarrett will have to do better than last season. Ryne Robinson and Jason Carter will backup everybody. This position is my biggest concern.

TE: Jeff King had 46 receptions and 406 receiving yards and two touchdowns. King should be the obvious starter and Dante Rosario, last year's fifth round pick, should back him up. Also, this year's fifth round pick, Gary Barnidge, will fill in the third string role.

OL: LT Jordan Gross has been the Panthers starter in all 80 regular season games, since being drafted by Carolina in 2003. LG Travelle Wharton has made 44 starts in his career. C Ryan Kalil (last year’s second round pick) will start even though he only started three last season. If he can’t do the job Geoff Hangartner will step in with his 19 career starts under his belt. Free agent pickup RG Toniu Foniti will start because he has started 33 games from 2002-2006 for San Diego, Minnesota and Miami, making 19 starts at left guard and 14 at right guard. Lastly RT Jeff Otah, there first round pick will start and do a solid job.

DE: Julius Peppers has 56 career sacks and last season’s 3^rd round pick Charles Johnson has zero. They will be the starters. Stanley McClover last season’s 7^th round pick and free agent pickup Tyler Brayton will back them up.

DT: Maake Kemoeatu has 81 tackles with the Panthers in the last two seasons and should start alongside former first round pick, Damoine Lewis, who has eight sacks in the last two seasons. Former Chicago Bears Darwin Walker and Ian Scott will be the backups. Look for Ian Scott to challenge Maake Kemoeatu for the starting job.

LB: Thomas Davis has 217 career tackles and six career sacks. Davis will be the SLB alongside last year’s first round pick Jon Beason. Beason had 140 tackles last season as the MLB. Free agent pickup and former Bengal Landon Johnson will start as the WLB. Johnson had 109 tackles last season. James Anderson, former Green Bay Packers LB Na'il Diggs, and this year’s third round pick Dan Connor will back up the starters above.

CB: Chris Gamble has 17 career interceptions and bruised Ken Lucas has 22 career interceptions. Richard Marshall will be a solid backup, with his six career interceptions, in two seasons. Then behind Marshall it looks okay. Dante Wesley who played with the Chicago Bears during Super Bowl 41 is back and Ricardo Colclough and Curtis Deloatch will fight it out for playing time.

FS: Third round pick Charles Godfrey from Iowa will start here. The Panthers drafted him because of his great senior season, where he had five interceptions. The backup for the rookie will be the brother of Torry Holt, Terrence Holt.

SS: Another former Chicago Bear, Chris Harris just got his money this offseason because of his eight forced fumbles last season. Backing him up will be C.J. Wilson, who is not very experienced.

Special Teams: John Kasay will be a good kicker with his 81.0 field goal %. Jason Baker will start at punter because of his punting average of 42.2. Ryne Robinson will return kicks for the second straight season.

Projected Record: 8-8, losing Steve Smith for the first two games hurts a lot and having okay receivers will hurt this team. Look for the defense to be the backbone of this team. Jon Beason will be a pro bowler.

Jake Perper

Check out my blog at www.bearsbacker.com or email me at daperp730@aol.com

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?