Smith not counting on Keyshawn factor

Panthers star unsure of addition's affect

Despite his decade of big plays, big talk and big hype, newly signed Carolina Panthers wideout Keyshawn Johnson is no replacement for Muhsin Muhammad, Panthers All-Pro receiver Steve Smith says.

During a celebrity golf tournament April 7 at Brier Creek Country Club, Smith said Johnson is a good player, but not on the same level of Muhammad, who left Carolina last year for Chicago via free agency.

Also at the tournament, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said ex-teammate Terrell Owens was a cancer in Philadelphia, and the receiver is still immature and refuses to speak to the QB.

In January, the Panthers lost to Seattle in the NFC title game -- partly because the team didn't have a threat opposite Smith, who caught 103 passes for 1,563 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

When asked if the addition of Johnson, who signed a four-year deal reportedly worth $19 million, would help the Panthers' offense, Smith said he was not sure.

"I don't know. Everybody wants me to speculate. I can't speculate," Smith said at the annual Holt Brothers Celebrity Golf Classic. "The natural thing to say is 'yeah he's going to help us', but time will tell."

Smith, a third-round pick in 2001, has become one of the league's best receivers, in large part because of the tutoring by Muhammad, who had 1,405 receiving yards for Carolina in 2004.

"Nobody plays like Moose [Muhammad]. Nobody ever will play like Moose to me," Smith said.

Meanwhile, McNabb said that even though he and Owens aren't buddies, the Dallas Cowboys receiver doesn't have to put down his former teammate when they run into each other.

"We've seen each other at different occasions but never spoke. I'm going to speak. That's just me, I'm going to speak to whomever. You don't have to like me, just respect what I do. I respect what you do," McNabb said.

"I'm not asking you to come over to the house and hang around the family and play with my kids. Just speak. We're African-Americans, we don't need to have this separation. But, you've got to let people be people. Got to let them do what they do."

Owens has had unpleasant exits from two teams -- Philadelphia and San Francisco -- because of his public bashing of teammates. McNabb said that while Owens' talent is undeniable, his locker room antics sucked the air out of the Eagles last season before he was suspended by the team.

"You've got [other] guys [in the NFL] who are somewhat cancerous, but they don't come out publically... it can rip a team apart," said McNabb, adding that he thinks Owens could be successful in Dallas if Cowboys coach Bill Parcells handles the mercurial star correctly.