The NFL suspended Carolina Panthers special teams player Dante Wesley one game without pay Monday for launching himself into defenseless Tampa Bay Buccaneers returner Clifton Smith.
Wesley left his feet and hit Smith in the neck and head with his forearm and shoulder as Smith waited to field a punt late in the second quarter on Sunday. Smith sustained a concussion, and both benches emptied. Wesley was ejected.
Smith had not signaled for a fair catch, and Wesley said he mistimed hitting him. But NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson called the act a flagrant violation of player safety rules.
Wesley, who will lose more than $36,000 in salary because of the suspension, has spent seven of his eight NFL seasons with the Panthers.
"I was just trying to make a play," Wesley said after the game, a 28-21 Carolina victory. "You can check my record. ... I've never really tried to hurt anybody."
The Panthers gave up a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after Wesley's ejection. He will sit out Sunday's game against Buffalo.
Panthers get Chiefs' Tyler: The Carolina Panthers have added depth at defensive tackle, sending an undisclosed draft pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for Tank Tyler.
The deal late Monday, a day before the NFL's trading deadline, gives the Panthers more options on the defensive line after the season-ending injury to Maake Kemoeatu in training camp.
It's a homecoming for 6-foot-2, 306-pound Tyler, who grew up in Fayetteville and played at N.C. State. He was taken by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2007 draft and started all 16 games last season.
Tyler started two of six games this season and has 22 tackles.
Ravens' Rolle may be done: Baltimore Ravens defensive back Samari Rolle almost certainly won't play this season because of a neck injury.
Rolle, 33, was placed on the physically unable to perform list in August with hopes he might return, but surgery didn't correct the problem. Now his career could be done.
Rolle missed six games in 2008 because of the injury. He underwent surgery last year, too, and has not practiced this season.
Jets' Jenkins out for season: New York Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins has been placed on season-ending injured reserve with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
