Agent: WR Steve Smith 'is not going to play for the Panthers next season'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The agent for wide receiver Steve Smith says the five-time Pro Bowl selection has played his final snap for the Carolina Panthers.

Smith's longtime representative Derrick Fox told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Smith "is not going to play for the Panthers next year, I know that. I just don't know when that transaction is going to take place."

Fox says the Panthers have been trying to trade Smith, but expects he'll ultimately be released.

He says the Panthers haven't asked Smith to restructure his current contract which calls for him to make $7 million under the 2014 salary cap.

Regardless of whether the Panthers cut Smith or keep him, they'll have to pay him $3 million this year as part of a contract extension he signed in 2012.

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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL