"Practice had ended Monday afternoon, but Panthers receiver Steve Smith remained.

Along with Wallace Wright and Legedu Naanee, Smith stayed after the workout to catch passes from rookie quarterback Cam Newton.

They ran short routes. They ran longer routes. They ran toward the Panthers' Thursday night exhibition in Cincinnati and beyond.

For Smith, the Bengals game will be his first action of the preseason after hurting his left hand two weeks ago. He had the stitches removed last weekend from the torn area between two fingers and will wear a protective pad inside his receiving glove to help prevent a recurrence of the injury.

Initially, Smith said, he was told he had a compound fracture in fingers on his left hand, which would have been a more severe injury. There was also talk about having to re-break his broken bones to properly set them.

"It was a little too much to be talking about," said Smith, who soon afterward learned the injury wasn't nearly so serious."